The U.S. and Russia recently held talks in Saudi Arabia to discuss the ongoing Ukraine war. But instead of easing tensions, the meeting has sparked a public spat between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
What’s behind their disagreement? Are they at at loggerheads over the talks, or is there more to the story? As global powers push for peace, the feud between Trump and Zelensky raises questions about unity and strategy in resolving the conflict.
Here is a breakdown of the war of words between Trump and Zelensky:
The Russian-Ukraine war
The war between Russia and Ukraine started in February 2022 when Russia launched a full invasion, taking over more parts of Ukraine. It has become the biggest war in Europe since World War II.
Since then, over 6.8 million people have fled Ukraine to nearby countries like Poland, Hungary, and Moldova. Poland has taken in the most refugees, and the war has also caused tens of thousands of deaths.
One of the main reasons for the war is Ukraine’s plan to get closer to Western countries, including its interest in joining NATO—a group created partly to stop Soviet expansion. Since Russia and Ukraine were once part of the Soviet Union, this move has angered Russia.
Although many countries have supported Ukraine and tried to help end the war, no real solution has been reached yet.
US meets Russia in Saudi over Ukraine war
Efforts to end the Ukraine war have been ongoing, and Trump, during his campaign, promised to resolve the conflict. Last week, he took a step toward fulfilling that promise by speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump revealed the conversation while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, stating that he spent over an hour on the phone with Putin on Wednesday. “I think we’re on the way to getting peace,” Trump said.
He added, “People didn’t really know what President Putin’s thoughts were. But I think I can say with great confidence, he wants to see it ended also, so that’s good—and we’re going to work toward getting it ended as fast as possible.”
Trump also mentioned that they agreed to “work together very closely, including visiting each other’s nations” and to “have our respective teams start negotiations immediately” on Ukraine. He suggested that a face-to-face meeting with Putin could happen soon, possibly in Saudi Arabia.
Recounting his call with Putin, Trump said: “People didn’t really know what President Putin’s thoughts were. But I think I can say with great confidence, he wants to see it ended also, so that’s good – and we’re going to work toward getting it ended and as fast as possible.”
On Tuesday, February 17, 2024, senior officials from Russia and the U.S. met in Saudi Arabia to begin talks on improving ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. Delegations led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met behind closed doors at the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh.
After the meeting, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters that the two sides had agreed to establish a “consultation mechanism to address irritants to our bilateral relationship.”
Rubio added that this would include re-staffing the two nations’ respective embassies. Bruce also stated that Rubio and Lavrov had agreed to appoint “high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides.”
Ukrainians, Europeans sidelined from talks
The talks, however, left European leaders feeling sidelined and alarmed by Trump’s shift in U.S. policy toward Russia. Many of them fear that the U.S. may make significant concessions to Moscow and rewrite Europe’s security arrangements in a Cold War-style deal.
Specifically, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised his nation’s exclusion from the Riyadh gathering, which lasted over four hours.
He argued that any talks aimed at ending the war should be “fair” and involve European countries, including Turkey—which has offered to host negotiations.
“This will only be feeding Putin’s appetite,” a Ukrainian senior official told AFP, referring to the launch of talks without Ukraine.
Trump defends US meeting with Russia, blames UK for conflict
Hours after Zelensky’s outburst, Trump defended the U.S. meeting with Russia and suggested that Kyiv was to blame for the conflict. Under the Biden administration, the U.S. had praised Zelensky as a hero and imposed heavy sanctions on Moscow as Ukraine fought off Russian forces.
However, during a press conference on Tuesday, Trump criticized the Ukrainian leader and echoed Kremlin claims, including the accusation that Ukraine started the war.
“Today I heard, well, we weren’t invited. Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it three years ago. You should have never started it,” Trump said.
Ukraine rejects US bid for 50% of rare earth minerals
President Zelensky of Ukraine, during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support, according to five people briefed on the proposal or with direct knowledge of the talks.
The unusual deal would have granted the United States a 50 percent interest in all of Ukraine’s mineral resources, including graphite, lithium and uranium, according to two European officials. But it was unclear whether this was meant as compensation only for past American support to Kyiv’s war effort against Russian invaders, or if it would also come in exchange for future military and financial assistance.
On Sunday, the U.S. national security adviser, Mike Waltz, indicated it was at least partly for past support. “The American people deserve to be recouped, deserve to have some kind of payback for the billions they have invested in this war,” he was quoted as saying. “I think that Zelensky would be very wise to enter into this agreement with the United States.”
A Ukrainian official and an energy expert briefed on the proposal said that the Trump administration sought not only Ukraine’s minerals but additional natural resources, including oil and gas. The proposal, they said, would entitle the United States to half of Ukraine’s resource earnings — funds that are today mostly invested in the country’s military and defense production.
Trump attacks Zelensky, says US wasted $350bn on Russian war
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Zelensky a “dictator” and criticised him for failing to hold elections, noting that the Ukrainian leader’s five-year term expired last year. Trump also claimed that Zelensky’s popularity was low and accused him of “playing” President Joe Biden.
“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion to go into a war that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a war that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” Trump wrote.
He added, “He refuses to have elections, is very low in Ukrainian polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’ A dictator without elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.”
Trump also suggested that the only way to end the war was through negotiations led by him, stating that his administration was the only one capable of securing peace. “In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP’ and the Trump Administration can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going,” Trump said.
He concluded, “I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died—And so it continues…”
Trump criticism shocks Europe as Zelensky fires back
Trump’s remarks drew shock from Europe, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz calling it “wrong and dangerous” to label Zelensky a dictator.
In Washington, Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, also issued a sharp rebuke. “Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives,” Pence wrote on X.
Zelensky responded to Trump’s attacks by accusing him of falling for Russian “disinformation.” He added, “I believe that the United States helped (Vladimir) Putin to break out of years of isolation,” in some of his strongest criticism yet of the new U.S. administration.
