Trump calls Ukraine’s Zelenskyy a ‘dictator without elections’ as rift widens

President Donald Trump blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a ‘dictator without elections’ on Wednesday, after the U.S. left Ukraine out of initial peace talks with Russia this week. 

‘A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,’ Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. ‘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 added, ‘I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…..’

Describing Zelenskyy as a ‘modestly successful comedian,’ Trump said the Ukrainian leader ‘managed to talk the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, 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 decried how the United States ‘has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back.’ 

‘Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation,’ Trump posed of former President Joe Biden. ‘On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is ‘MISSING.’ 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.’’ 

Zelenskyy criticized Trump earlier Wednesday in comments to reporters in Kyiv after canceling a trip to Saudi Arabia, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Special Envoy Ambassador Steve Witkoff held talks with Russian counterparts earlier this week centered on negotiating an end to the three-year conflict with Ukraine. 

‘Unfortunately, President Trump – I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us – unfortunately lives in this disinformation space,’ Zelensky said.

Nearly one year past the expiration of Zelenskyy’s first five-year term, the U.S. and Russia are in agreement that Ukrainians must go to the polls and decide whether to keep their head of state. 

Russia has insisted it will not sign a peace agreement until Ukraine agrees to hold elections, and the U.S. is now ‘floating’ the idea of a three-stage plan: ceasefire, then Ukrainian elections, then inking of a peace deal.

Zelenskyy’s term in office was supposed to end last May, with elections originally slated for April 2024. But the president’s aides have said elections will not be held until six months after the end of martial law. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits holding elections under martial law. With his popularity having plummeted nearly 40% since the war’s outbreak, Zelenskyy’s future could be in jeopardy if peace is reached and elections are triggered. 

Ukraine advocates say post-war elections would be a far better option, but elections offer Russia an opportunity to sow chaos. ‘The only person that benefits from elections before there’s a durable peace deal is Putin,’ Andrew D’Anieri, a fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, previously told Fox News Digital. ‘The Kremlin loves elections, not in their own country, but elsewhere, because it provides an opportunity to destabilize things.’

Trump envoy Keith Kellog, a retired 3-star general, arrived in Kyiv to hold talks with Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Ukrainian officials have emphasized that any peace deal will require U.S. security guarantees in order to ensure Russia does not invade again.

‘We understand the need for security guarantees,’ Kellog told Ukrainian media. ‘It’s very clear to us the importance of the sovereignty of this nation and the independence of this nation as well… Part of my mission is to sit and listen.’ 

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce released a statement after Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Ridyah on Tuesday. 

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report. This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.