Ukraine says joint press conference between Zelensky, Trump envoy cancelled
Ukraine says a Trump envoy pulled out of a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelensky as the Ukrainian leader again came under fire from the White House.
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A planned press conference between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy was cancelled as political tensions deepened between the two countries over how to end the almost three-year war with Russia.
“They need to tone it down,” the former Florida Republican congressman added, “and take a hard look and sign that deal.”
Mr Zelensky met with US envoy Keith Kellogg after Mr Trump branded the Ukrainian leader a “dictator” and said the Russians “have the cards” in any talks to end the war
The United States has provided essential funding and arms to Ukraine, but the US president has rattled Kyiv and its European backers by opening talks with Moscow they fear could end the war on terms unacceptable to them.
Mr Zelensky also hit out at Mr Trump, saying he had succumbed to Russian “disinformation” by repeating Kremlin talking points.
The format of the press event, which was to include comments to the media by Mr Zelensky and retired US Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was changed at the last minute so that the two did not deliver statements or field questions from journalists.
“At the request of the American side, the format of the meeting provides for protocol filming and does not include statements or questions,” Mr Zelensky’s spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov told reporters.
Lt. Gen. Kellogg’s trip to Kyiv coincided with recent feuding between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky that has bruised their personal relations and cast further doubt on the future of US support for Ukraine’s war effort.
The US delegation made no immediate comment. When the meeting began, photographers and video journalists were allowed into a room where the two men shook hands before sitting across from each other at a table at the presidential office in Kyiv. In the US, Mr Trump’s top security adviser said that Mr Zelensky’s criticism of the US president was “unacceptable” and urged him to sign a deal giving preferential access to Ukraine’s critical minerals and natural resources.
“We’re getting all this pushback … they need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal,” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance remained positive about achieving peace in Europe.
“I really believe that we’re on the cusp of peace in Europe for the first time in three years, because we have leadership from the Oval Office, and we haven’t had it in four years in this country,” Vance said Thursday in his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
EU JOINS GLOBAL BACKLASH
The European Union joined global backlash against Mr Trump’s accusation that Mr Zelensky was a “dictator”
“We have a fairly straightforward and clear position on this: President Zelensky was legitimately elected in free, fair and democratic elections,” EU spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker told journalists.
“Ukraine is a democracy, Putin’s Russia is not.”
The EU insists that both Ukraine and Europe must have a say during any negotiations.
“There can be no solution for Ukraine without the involvement of Ukraine, nor without the involvement of the European Union,” Mr de Keersmaecker said.
“Ukraine’s security is the European Union’s security.”
In contrast, the Kremlin hailed Mr Trump’s comments. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it “absolutely” agreed with Mr Trump after he urged Mr Zelensky to “move fast” to end the conflict.
Earlier, Mr Trump’s falsehood-filled attack on Mr Zelensky was condemned by world leaders.
Ukraine’s former prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Russia would be “popping champagne” after Mr Trump’s rant, while opposition politician Yaroslav Zheleznyak said the US President was doing “exactly as the Kremlin wants.
In a rare criticism of Mr Trump, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the US President got it “wrong”, adding that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked” and an “act of aggression”.
He said Australia should “stand strong and proud with the people of Ukraine”.
“The thought that President Zelensky or the Ukrainian people started this battle, or somehow they were responsible for the war, is just wrong,” he told 2GB.
“It’s a democracy, and this is a fight for civilisation. Vladimir Putin is a murderous dictator, and we shouldn’t be giving him an inch.”
Former prime minister Tony Abbott, speaking from London, accused Mr Trump of “living in a fantasy land”, saying peace could not be a “surrender to vicious, naked aggression”.
Mr Abbott said the US should not “appease dictators” like Mr Putin.
“I think we are in a bit of a dangerous place, and I hope that he will think again, and I think that wise heads in Washington will be getting together to think this through,” he said.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended Mr Zelensky as a “democratically elected leader”, saying it was “perfectly reasonable” for him to suspend elections during the war.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz added that Mr Trump’s comments were “wrong and dangerous”, and French government spokeswoman Sophie Primas said they were “incomprehensible.”
Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer said Mr Trump’s effort to force elections in Ukraine “to further the imperialist agenda of a war criminal like Putin is a stain on the United States”.
“After three years of failure on the battlefield, Trump’s return to the White House may finally deliver exactly what the Kremlin wanted all along,” he said.
“This is not just a betrayal of Ukraine and Europe – it is the unravelling of the world order America built after World War II.”
HOW THE TRUMP-ZELENSKY SPAT UNFOLDED
In an extraordinary social media rant, Mr Trump accused the Ukrainian President of being a “dictator” who had misused billions of dollars in American aid in the fight against Russia.
He later repeated his incendiary comments in a speech, including the menacing threat that Mr Zelensky “better move fast or he’s not going to have a country left”, after his officials kicked off talks with Russia to end the war without including Ukrainian representatives.
“I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job, his country is shattered, and millions and millions of people have unnecessarily died,” the US President said.
The US-Russia talks – as well as Mr Trump’s claim that Ukraine was to blame for the war that began three years ago – prompted Mr Zelensky to hit back on Wednesday (local time).
He said the US President had been “caught in a web of disinformation” that had left Russian President Vladimir Putin “very happy”.
“I would like to have more truth with the Trump team,” Mr Zelensky said, in his most direct criticism of the Republican since he returned to power a month ago.
Those comments ignited the simmering feud between the leaders, with Mr Trump unleashing on his Truth Social site in a post which also said Mr Zelensky had only succeeded at playing former US president Joe Biden “like a fiddle”.
Mr Trump claimed the US had given Ukraine $US350bn during the war and that “half the money is missing”, even though America’s total commitment was $US124bn.
Echoing Moscow’s talking points, he also attacked Mr Zelensky for refusing to hold elections after earlier suggesting his approval rating was at just 4 per cent.
The latest polling in Ukraine showed the majority of voters still supported the President, as elections that were due last year remained suspended under martial law with Russian forces occupying at least a fifth of the country and millions of Ukrainians having fled overseas.
Mr Trump also falsely claimed he “had a deal” with Mr Zelensky to take half of Ukraine’s critical minerals in exchange for America’s support in the fight against Russia.
“Maybe he wants to keep the gravy train going,” he said.
The Ukrainian President, who rejected that proposal, said: “I can’t sell our state.”
Several Republican senators moved to defend Mr Zelensky, but Vice President JD Vance hit back by claiming he had been “badmouthing him in public media”, which he said was “an atrocious way to deal with this administration”.
Mr Putin meanwhile welcomed the “very friendly” approach from the Trump administration in talks earlier this week in Saudi Arabia.
Russia’s ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin said: “For the first time we have noticed that they are not simply saying that this is Russian propaganda and disinformation. They have listened and they hear what we’re saying.”
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Originally published as Ukraine says joint press conference between Zelensky, Trump envoy cancelled