The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has denounced the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as a "dictator" and has increased pressure on Ukraine to accept the terms of an agreement aimed at ending the war that the United States is negotiating with Russia. Trump accused Zelensky of taking advantage of the U.S. aid provided by former President Joe Biden and suggested that Ukraine was to blame for the ongoing conflict, which was initiated by Russia's unprovoked invasion in 2022.
"Zelensky is a dictator without elections, he better hurry or he won't have a country left," Trump wrote on his social media. These statements add to comments made by the U.S. president the previous Tuesday, where he questioned Zelensky's polls and Ukraine's responsibility in the war, prompting a response from the Ukrainian leader accusing Trump of living in a Russian "disinformation space."
Amid conversations between the United States and Russia to end the war in Ukraine, Trump has highlighted the country's mineral wealth, seeking to gain control of these resources in exchange for military support. It has been mentioned that Ukraine has mineral deposits valued at $10 trillion, and Zelensky has been interested in promoting these materials to gain more military and economic backing. Attention is focused on rare earths, used in high-tech industries, which Trump wants to secure.
"He refuses to have elections, is very low in Ukrainian polls, and the only thing he was good at was manipulating Biden 'like a violin,'" Trump expressed in his strongest criticisms of Zelensky since taking office. This situation reflects the rapid deterioration of relations between the United States and Ukraine during the new president's administration.
Despite successful talks with Russia to achieve the end of the war, Trump sent his top advisors to Saudi Arabia to negotiate directly with Russian leaders, excluding Ukraine from the process. Ukraine's absence in the talks led Zelensky to cancel a planned trip to Saudi Arabia. According to him, the United States has requested to keep half of Ukraine's natural resources in exchange for the support provided; however, the proposal lacked guarantees of military support in exchange for the resources.
