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Trump speaking at the Future Investment Initiative Institute summit in Florida. Alamy Stock Photo
Washington
Trump says Russia 'have the cards' in Ukraine peace negotiations as Kremlin 'absolutely' agrees
His comments came just hours after he branded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”.
6.57am, 20 Feb 2025
24.2k
LAST UPDATE|20 Feb
US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has said that the Russians “have the cards” in any negotiation to end the war in Ukraine because “they’ve taken a lot of territory”.
His comments came hours after he branded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” who refuses to hold elections.
The Ukrainian leader, who has exchanged barbs with Trump since he initiated a dramatic shift in Washington’s stance on the war, is due to meet US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv today.
Trump has sparked concern in Kyiv and amongst European leaders by opening talks with Moscow without Ukraine, dialogue they fear could end the war on terms unacceptable to them.
Asked by reporters if he believed that Russia wants peace, Trump said: “I do. I think the Russians want to see the war end.
“But I think they have the cards a little bit, because they’ve taken a lot of territory, so they have the cards.”
Trump has been harshly critical of the Ukrainian leader, claiming he has subverted democracy and blaming him for starting the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago.
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform yesterday, claiming the Ukrainian president “refuses to have elections”.
The Kremlin has said it “absolutely” agreed with Trump’s comments about the state of the war.
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“They (the Trump administration) talk about the need to establish peace as soon as possible and do it through negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
“We have also already mentioned that this position is more favourable to us than the previous administration, and that here we absolutely agree with the American administration,” Peskov said.
Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 for a five-year term. His term was due to end in May 2024, but he has remained leader under martial law imposed as his country fights for its survival.
‘Gravy train’
Trump also claimed that Zelenskyy is “very low in Ukrainian polls”, quoting a figure of 4%. Zelenskyy has a 57% approval rating.
While speaking at a Saudi-backed investment meeting in Miami, Trump repeated remarks made in his earlier Truth Social post,
“He refuses to have elections. The only thing he was really good at was playing Joe Biden like a fiddle,” he said.
He said Europe had failed to bring peace and questioned whether Zelenskyy wanted “to keep the gravy train going”.
“I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job,” Trump said. “His country is shattered, and millions and millions of people have died.
“You can’t bring a war to an end if you don’t talk to both sides. You got to talk. They haven’t been talking for three years.”
Shock at Trump attack
Trump’s invective drew shock from Europe where German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was “wrong and dangerous” to call Zelenskyy a dictator.
In Washington, Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence also issued a stinging rebuke.
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Trump baselessly accuses Ukraine of starting the war and claims Zelenskyy is a dictator
Debunked: Ukraine’s Zelenskyy has a 57% approval rating, not 4% as Trump said
“Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives,” he wrote on X.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed Zelenskyy in a phone call last night after Trump’s comments.
In the call, Starmer gave Zelenskyy his support “as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader” and said it was “perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War Two”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.
Zelenskyy reacted to Trump’s attacks by accusing him of succumbing to Russian “disinformation”.
“I believe that the United States helped (Vladimir) Putin to break out of years of isolation,” he added, in some of his sharpest criticism yet of the new US administration.
In Ukraine, Trump’s rhetoric was greeted by disbelief.
“Blaming Ukraine for starting the war is some kind of absurdity. As Ukrainians, we cannot understand this,” soldier Ivan Banias told AFP on the freezing streets of Kyiv.
In contrast, Putin hailed progress in talks with the United States.
The Russian leader also claimed his troops had crossed into Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region – a first ground attack there since 2022 – but Kyiv swiftly denied the claim.
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