Trump says Zelensky is a ‘dictator’: How the rift could reshape the Ukraine war – ‘echoing Russia’s talking points’

The relations between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky deteriorated this week after the two leaders indulged in a war of words that can potentially derail the efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

The US President called Zelensky 'a dictator without elections' after the Ukrainian President said Trump was living in a Russian-made 'disinformation space.' Trump also defended the US taking part in peace talks that excluded Ukraine and argued that Zelensky “should never have started” the war and that he “could have made a deal.”

The back-and-forth between the two leaders is a departure from being staunch allies in recent years – under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden.

Rejecting the international system of alliances

The US provided crucial military equipment to Kyiv to fight the war with Russia, in addition to using its political weight to defend Ukraine and isolate Russia on the world stage during Biden's Presidency. The Trump administration has started charting a new course—reaching out to Russia and pushing for a peace deal by isolating Zelensky, at least in talks.

Trump called Ukrainian president ‘a modestly successful comedian’ who “talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion, to go into a War that couldn't be won.” He said the only thing Zelensky “was good at was playing Biden like a fiddle,” in what many in US media called a 'remarkable spectacle' almost three years into the war.

"Trump’s turn against Ukraine is not just a remarkable spectacle as the United States changes sides in the middle of a war. It’s one example of Trump’s stunning transformation of US foreign policy as America becomes a nation that is rejecting the international system of alliances and friendships that it built to defend democracy and as its president seeks accommodation with authoritarians like Putin," reads an analysis in CNN.

'Echoing Russia's talking points'

Trump is echoing Russia's talking points about the war and the Ukrainian president, according to a BBC report. Russia's ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin, not surpringly, praised the Trump administration's fresh approach.

"For the first time we have noticed that they (the US) are not simply saying that this is Russian propaganda and disinformation. They have listened and they hear what we're saying," Kelin told BBC Newsnight.

The change in US foreign policy has not surprised many. Trump, observers said, has been charting this course for quite some time now. The comments are in line with his "America First" foreign policy view.

$65.9b military assistance

The Trump administration’s financial support for Ukraine – without which its survival is truly in doubt – is now endangered, according to US media reports. "Trump has repeatedly referred – falsely – to how Ukraine’s aid is “MISSING,” and somehow that Zelensky is on a “gravy train.” He is preparing a narrative for the American people that probably ends in the aid itself being curtailed, said another analysis on CNN.

According to US Department of State, as on January 20, when President Trump took office, United States had provided $65.9 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched its premeditated, unprovoked, and brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and about $69.2 billion in military assistance since Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

All eyes Trump- Putin meet?

Trump's criticism of Zelenskyy comes a week after he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation. Senior officials from both countries held talks earlier this week to discuss improving ties, negotiating an end to the war and potentially preparing a meeting between Trump and Putin after years of frosty relations.

Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach earlier this week, Trump said that a meeting would "probably" happen before the end of the month. Trump has been of late speaking of his ties with his Russian counterpart, claiming that Putin's invasion of Ukraine would have never taken place had he been in office in 2022.

Putin has also said he would like to meet with Trump. “I would like to have a meeting, but it needs to be prepared so that it brings results,” Putin said on Wednesday in televised remarks adding that he would be “pleased” to meet Trump but noted that Trump has acknowledged that a Ukrainian settlement could take longer than he initially hoped.

Putin hailed Tuesday's talks between Russian and US senior officials in the Saudi capital of Riyadh as “very positive” and brushed off Zelenskyy's complaints about Ukraine being left out of the US-Russian talks as “unfounded.”

Existential Dilemma for Ukraine

On February 18, Russia and the United States held their first talks on ending the three-year conflict. Ukraine and European governments were not invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia, which heightened their concern that Russia and the United States might cut a deal that ignores their vital security interests.

“The existential dilemma now for Ukraine is whether it even has the luxury of choice between its wartime president and its main military backer, the United States. Is enough left intact of either?” wrote Nick Paton Walsh on CNN.

Trump's comments are likely to further cement opposition to his long-shot peace plans among Europeans, whom his administration says must be responsible for enforcing any future agreement to stop the fighting, says journalist Stephen Collinson.

“Trump seemed vague about what a peace deal in Ukraine would look like, underscoring impressions that his top goal is a deal of any kind, which would allow him to claim a personal political victory but that his critics fear could foster future conflict,” he wrote in CNN.

What did European leaders say?

The exchange sparked reactions from world leaders, with Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz calling Trump's comments "false and dangerous". The UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Zelensky in a phone call this evening that he supports the Ukrainian leader, calling it “perfectly reasonable” to suspend elections in a war.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says Trump's branding of Zelensky a "dictator" is "incorrect" and that he is "democratically elected".

French President Emmanuel Macron said France and its partners "stand alongside Ukraine" and will assume every responsibility to ensure peace and security in Europe.

(With inputs from agencies)