US President Donald Trump branded Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator" Wednesday, widening a personal rift with major implications for efforts to end the conflict triggered by Russia's invasion three years ago.
The United States had provided funding and arms to Ukraine, but in an abrupt policy shift since coming to power, Trump has opened talks with Moscow.
"A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left [sic]," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform of the Ukrainian leader, whose five-year term expired last year.
Ukrainian law does not require elections during wartime.
On Tuesday Trump staged a press conference in which he criticised Zelenskyy, repeated several Kremlin narratives about the conflict and called for an end to the war.
Zelenskyy in turn accused Trump of succumbing to Russian "disinformation," including Trump blaming of Kyiv for having "started" the war and echoing Kremlin questions over Zelenskyy's legitimacy.
"He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing [Joe] Biden 'like a fiddle,'" said Trump in the Truth Social post about Zelenskyy.
"In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only 'TRUMP,' and the Trump Administration, can do," the US president added.
Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, but has remained leader under martial law imposed following the Russian invasion.
His popularity has eroded, but the percentage of Ukrainians who trust him has never dipped below 50 percent since the conflict started, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
Trump said later Wednesday said the Russians "have the cards" in negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine.
"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 told reporters.
'Doublethink'
Trump has long held his party in lockstep, but moderate Republicans swiftly pushed back against his attack on Zelenskyy Wednesday.
"Putin started this war. Putin committed war crimes. Putin is the dictator who murdered his opponents. The EU nations have contributed more to Ukraine. Zelensky polls over 50 percent. Ukraine wants to be part of the West, Putin hates the West," congressman Don Bacon, from Nebraska, wrote on X. "I don't accept George Orwell's doublethink," he added, referring to the author of the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
New York Republican Mike Lawler said that Putin demanding elections in Ukraine was "both comical and self-serving."
"Vladimir Putin is a vile dictator and thug, who has worked in a concerted effort with China and Iran to undermine and destabilize the United States, Europe, Israel, and the free world. He is not our friend, nor our ally," he wrote, also on X.
Trump's staunch ally Senator Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, threaded the needle carefully, writing that he blames Putin "above all others" for the war – but adding on X that he still saw the US president as Ukraine's "best hope."
Former US vice-president Mike Pence, who broke with Trump after his supporters stormed the US Capitol in 2021 in a bid to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, also issued a rare public rebuke. "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.
From hero to zero
Under Biden, the United States had lauded Zelenskyy as a hero and hammered Moscow with sanctions as Ukraine battled against advancing Russian soldiers.
In Tuesday's press conference, Trump tore into the Ukrainian leader and repeated Kremlin narratives such as the claim that Ukraine started the war.
Trump's invective drew shock from Europe where German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was "wrong and dangerous" to call Zelensky a dictator.
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," said soldier Ivan Banias, as he stood 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.
Both sides are trying to improve their situation on the battlefield amid Trump's push for a ceasefire.
– TIMES/AFP
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