Zelensky says Trump living in Russian 'disinformation space'

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US president Donald Trump. Composite: AP, REX/Shutterstock

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has responded to criticism of Kyiv by Donald Trump, by saying his US counterpart is "living in a disinformation space" created by Russia.

On Tuesday, President Trump appeared to blame Ukraine for the war and suggested the Ukrainian leader's popularity rating was as low as 4%. Trump was speaking after US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia that left out Ukraine.

In his first comments after the talks, Russia's Vladimir Putin said he rated the talks in Riyadh "very highly" and that Trump had told him that Ukraine would be part of any future talks process.

Zelensky said it was America's right to discuss bilateral issues, but that the US had helped Putin "to break out of years of isolation".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who took part in the talks, praised President Trump for accepting Moscow's repeated claim that "one of the root causes" of the war was the Biden administration's "pushy line of dragging Ukraine into Nato".

Trump's Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday on a mission to "sit and listen" to Ukraine's position. Kellogg was not part of the US team that met Russian officials in Riyadh.

Almost three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European nations have been scrambling to respond to this week's developments.

French President Emmanuel Macron was holding informal talks on Ukraine on Wednesday with leaders from a number of European states as well as Canada.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Zelensky accused Russia of lying during Tuesday's "notorious meeting" in the Saudi capital, where the US and Russia agreed to start negotiating an end to the war.

"With all due respect to President Donald Trump as a leader... he is living in this disinformation space," he said.

He added that Ukraine had "evidence" that Russia was spreading disinformation about his approval rating, and "these numbers are being discussed between America and Russia".

Zelensky won a five-year term in 2019, and has remained in office because elections have been suspended since martial law was declared after Russia's full-scale invasion.

When asked about the claims made on his popularity, Zelensky said that while he never commented on popularity ratings, one opinion poll put him at 58%.

He said he wanted Trump's Ukraine envoy to "walk Kyiv's streets" and "see everything for himself".

Zelensky also made clear he would not sell his country in return for future security guarantees that gave the US a big stake in Ukraine's mineral resources.

He said the war has so far cost $320bn (£254bn), around $200bn (£159bn) of which had come from the US and EU.

He said the US had alleged that 90% of Ukraine's support had come from them, and while he was grateful for American support, "the truth is somewhere else".

In a later post on X, he wrote: "We must never forget that Russia is ruled by pathological liars - they cannot be trusted and must be pressured."

On Tuesday, Trump spoke to journalists at his Mar-a-Lago residence. "I hear that they're upset about not having a seat," he said.

"Well, they've had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal."

European allies have also started weighing in on Trump's comments.

"No-one but Putin started or wanted this war in the heart of Europe," said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. "We are at an existential waypoint for security and peace in Europe."

French government spokeswoman Sophie Primas, said: "We struggle to understand the American logic", while reiterating her country's support for Ukraine.

On Monday, the leaders of several European member states of Nato gathered in Paris to talk about what could be done to help Ukraine.

One idea proposed was sending peacekeepers to Ukraine, although Sergei Lavrov rejected that as unacceptable.

Trump, on the other hand, called it "great", saying that he was all for it if that was what they wanted to do, but that US troops would not be deployed as the US was "very far away".