Trump in disinformation bubble: Zelenskyy, snubbed for Ukraine peace talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying.
The US President is trapped in a Russian “disinformation bubble” and asserted that efforts to replace him amid the war with Russia will fail. Zelensky was responding to Trump’s assertion that his approval ratings are plummeting.
Following the US and Russia meeting in Riyadh on Tuesday, which discussed ending the Ukraine war, the US President claimed that Zelensky’s rating was just four per cent, despite the latest poll putting his approval rating at 57 per cent. These remarks came as Zelenskyy rejected the outcome of the Riyadh talks, asserting that Ukraine would not accept any decision made without its involvement.
Dismissing Donald Trump’s claims, Zelenskyy on Wednesday asserted that the Republican leader is trapped in a disinformation bubble created by Russia against him.
“If someone wants to replace me right now, it won’t work. The statements about his approval rating at 4 per cent is Russian disinformation. Trump is trapped in this disinformation bubble,” Zelenskyy told Ukrainian TV.
Zelenskyy commented he “would like Trump’s team to have more truth about Ukraine,” adding that no one in Ukraine trusts Russian President Vladimir Putin. He further said that Ukraine’s army was resilient enough, adding that the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians would not support concessions to Russia.
“The army is quite resilient, and it is the most resilient in Europe… and it guarantees us the opportunity to speak with dignity and on an equal footing with other partners – allies or non-allies,” he added.
In a significant international diplomatic development, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Saudi Arabia’s capital on Tuesday and agreed to improve bilateral relations between their countries, which have recently hit rock bottom. As the first step toward mending ties, both sides agreed to work towards ending the Ukraine-Russia war.
Zelenskyy, referring to the meeting, which was the first of this level and format since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said that the “US helped Putin end his isolation”.
At the meeting, Russia firmly rejected the presence of any NATO forces in Ukraine and opposed Ukraine’s NATO membership, a longstanding demand by President Zelensky.
Immediately after the outcome of the meeting became public, Zelensky asserted no one can “decide anything behind our backs” and postponed his visit to Saudi Arabia in order to not give “legitimacy” to the Riyadh meeting.
“We want no one to decide anything behind our backs… No decision can be made without Ukraine on how to end the war in Ukraine,” he said, adding, “We were not invited to this meeting, it was a surprise for us”. He also demanded Turkey and Europe be involved in talks.
Zelenskyy’s stance drew a rebuke from the US President, who accused his Ukrainian counterpart of “starting” the war. Trump labelled Zelenskyy a “grossly incompetent” leader and a poor negotiator, adding that he should have struck a deal to end the conflict with Russia nearly three years ago.
Both Washington and Russia appointed high-level teams to work towards ending the war, which began in February 2014, and escalated dramatically in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.