President Trump stepped up his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, just days after their Oval Office meeting went awry, blasting his latest comments that an end to the Ukraine-Russia war is a long way off.
“This is the worst statement Zelenskyy could have made, and America will not tolerate it for much longer!” wrote the president on Truth Social.
“It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be peace as long as he has America’s backing, and Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the United States.
Probably not the best statement to make in terms of demonstrating strength against Russia. “What do they think?” Trump added.
Later Monday, Zelensky stated that “we need real peace” and insisted on security guarantees, adding that he is still working with American and European partners.
“It is critical that we try to make our diplomacy more substantive in order to bring this war to an end as soon as possible,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
Despite the explosive spat at the White House, Zelensky said late Sunday that he believes the US-Ukraine relationship will continue, but that a deal to end the war “is still very, very far away,” according to the Associated Press.
After the Oval Office meeting on Friday, Trump accused the Ukrainian president of not being “ready for peace,” calling him “disrespectful” and only having a chance of “coming out OK because of us.” Zelensky has since stated that he will not apologize for the tense meeting, and Trump told reporters that Zelensky “overplayed his hand.”
In his post on Monday, Trump shared an article from the Associated Press, which the White House has barred from pooling the president due to the wire service’s refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico “the Gulf of America.”