Shortly before he was expected to meet with Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, who arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday (early Thursday AEDT), Zelenskyy said he “would like Trump’s team to be more truthful”.
Kellogg was set to meet Zelenskyy and military commanders as the US shifts its policy away from years of efforts to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump suggested on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) that Kyiv was to blame for the war, which enters its fourth year next week, as talks between top American and Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia sidelined Ukraine and its European supporters.
French President Emmanuel Macron was to hold a videoconference on Ukraine later on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) with leaders of more than 15 countries, mostly European nations, “with the aim of gathering all partners interested in peace and security” on the continent, his office said.
Key European leaders held an emergency meeting in Paris on Monday after they felt they had been sidelined by the Trump administration.
Trump’s comments are likely to vex Ukrainian officials, who have urged the world to help them fight Russia’s full-scale invasion that began on February 24, 2022.
Trump also said at Mar-a-Lago that Zelenskyy’s popularity rating stood at 4 per cent.
“We have seen this disinformation. We understand that it is coming from Russia,” Zelenskyy replied in a news conference in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
He said that Trump “lives in this disinformation space”.
Trump also suggested Ukraine ought to hold elections, which have been postponed due to the war and the consequent imposition of martial law, in accordance with the Ukrainian constitution.
Zelenskyy questioned claims, which he didn’t specify, that 90 per cent of all aid received by Ukraine comes from the United States.
He said that, for instance, about 34 per cent of all weapons in Ukraine are domestically produced, more than 30 per cent of support comes from Europe, and up to 40 per cent from the US.
The battlefield has brought grim news for Ukraine in recent months. A relentless onslaught in eastern areas by Russia’s bigger army is grinding down Ukrainian forces, which are slowly but steadily being pushed backward at some points on the 1000-kilometre front line.
Trump told reporters at his Florida residence on Tuesday that Ukraine “should have never started” the war and “could have made a deal” to prevent it.
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Kellogg said his visit to Kyiv was “a chance to have some good, substantial talks”.
Zelenskyy was due to travel to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday but canceled his trip in what some analysts saw as an attempt to deny legitimacy to the US-Russia talks about the future of his country.
American officials have signalled that Ukraine’s hopes of joining NATO in order to ward off Russian aggression after reaching a possible peace agreement won’t happen.
Zelenskyy says any settlement will require US security commitments to keep Russia at bay.
“We understand the need for security guarantees,” Kellogg said in comments carried by Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne Novyny on his arrival at Kyiv train station.
“It’s very clear to us the importance of the sovereignty of this nation and the independence of this nation as well. … Part of my mission is to sit and listen.”
Kellogg said he would convey what he learned on his visit to Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “and ensure that we get this one right”.
