US President Donald Trump has effectively accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of Russia’s invasion, while French President Emmanuel Macron prepares for another round of talks with EU and non-European partners on Wednesday.
Zelensky previously criticized the US-Russia negotiations for excluding Kyiv, arguing that efforts to resolve the war must be “fair” and include European countries.
The Ukrainian president’s remarks appeared to enrage Trump, who launched a barrage of verbal insults on Zelensky.
“I’m very disappointed. I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday.
“Today I heard, ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years… You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
Trump also hinted that he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia before the end of the month as part of a shift in Washington’s approach toward Moscow, which has frightened European leaders.
Earlier Tuesday, Russia and the United States agreed to form teams to negotiate a way to end the conflict in Ukraine, following talks that received harsh criticism from Kyiv, with Zelensky canceling his own travel to Saudi Arabia.
France’s Macron announced another meeting in Paris on Ukraine after the US-Russia talks, adding that Trump “can restart a useful dialogue” with Putin.
Trump also stepped up pressure on Zelensky to hold elections, reiterating one of Moscow’s main demands.
Speaking on whether the United States would support demands that Russia wanted to force Zelensky to hold new elections as part of any deal, Trump began by criticizing what he said were the Ukrainian’s approval ratings.
“They want a seat at the table, but you could say… wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since we’ve had an election,” said Trump.
“That’s not a Russian thing; that’s something coming from me, from other countries.”
Zelensky was elected in 2019 for a five-year term but has remained in office while Ukraine is still under martial law.
Some European leaders are concerned that Trump will make significant concessions to Moscow and rewrite the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal.
Trump stated that European nations would need to have a seat at the negotiating table “at some point.”
“This will only be feeding Putin’s appetite,” a Ukrainian senior official requesting anonymity told AFP, referring to the launch of talks without Ukraine.
Trump, for his part, said he was “much more confident” of a deal after the Riyadh talks, telling reporters Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate, “I think I have the power to end this war.”
According to the State Department, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to “appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible.”.
Washington also stated that the sides had agreed to “establish a consultation mechanism” to resolve “irritants” in the US-Russia relationship, laying the framework for future collaboration.
Riyadh represents a diplomatic success for Moscow, which had been isolated for three years under the previous US administration of Joe Biden.
Moscow’s economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, said Western attempts to isolate Russia had “obviously failed.”.
“We did not just listen but heard each other, and I have reason to believe the American side has better understood our position,” Lavrov told reporters.
The seasoned diplomat stated that Russia opposes any deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine as part of an eventual peace.
This week, European allies publicly disagreed over whether they would be willing to send troops or peacekeepers to Ukraine.
In an interview with French regional newspapers, Macron appeared to be open to sending troops to Ukraine, but only in limited numbers and away from combat zones.
He stated that additional negotiations would take place “with several European and non-European states” following an emergency conference in Paris on Monday that brought together a small group of major European countries.
Moscow has long advocated for the evacuation of NATO military from Eastern Europe, seeing the alliance as an existential threat to its flank.
The Kremlin declared on Tuesday that Ukraine has the right to join the European Union but not the NATO military alliance.
It further stated that Putin was “ready” to negotiate with Zelensky “if necessary.”
