WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has declined to say if he would take the opportunity to apologise to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for calling him a “dictator” last week. While he did not retreat from the remark during a joint news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump emphasised that he has a lot of respect for Zelensky and Ukraine for fighting “bravely”.
“I think we’re going to have a very good meeting tomorrow morning. We’re going to get along really well. OK, we have a lot of respect. I have a lot of respect for him. We’ve given him a lot of equipment and a lot of money, but they have fought very bravely, no matter how you figure. They have really fought. Somebody has to use that equipment, and they have been very brave in that sense,” Trump said.
Trump said Zelensky will meet him at the White House at 11 a.m. ET on Friday. President Trump seemed to minimise his rift with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. “Did I say that?” he said somewhat sarcastically when questioned whether he would still label Zelensky a “dictator,” a word he used to describe the Ukrainian leader last week.
“Next question,” he said, moving swiftly on during a press availability in the Oval Office alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump lashed out at Zelensky last week after Kyiv initially rejected a proposal to secure US rights to Ukraine’s mineral deposits. Trump said Zelensky was a “dictator without elections” because of the country’s decision to postpose a vote while martial law was declared after Russia’s invasion.
President Trump conceded that his relationship with Ukraine President Zelensky “maybe got a little bit testy” in recent days as he has initiated talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict without Kyiv at the negotiating table. “We want to work with him (Zelensky), and we will work with him. I think the President and I actually have had a very good relationship. It maybe got a little bit testy,” Trump told reporters on Thursday during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office.
Trump attributed the testiness in the relationship to European nations “(getting) their money back” from Ukraine, before Starmer leaned in to briefly correct him, saying that “most” of the UK’s aid to Ukraine was “gifted”. “I get along with both. I have a very good relationship with President Putin. I think I have a very good relationship with President Zelensky,” Trump said.
Trump said that the US will see if Ukraine can regain certain territory that Russia seized during the war, specifically on the “sea line,” as part of the broader peace negotiations. “Yeah, there are a lot of areas that were taken,” Trump told reporters on Thursday in the Oval Office. “Yeah, we’ve talked about it. A lot of the sea line has been taken, and we’ll be talking about that, and we’re going to see if we can get it back, or get a lot of it back for Ukraine, if that’s possible, we’ll be seeing about that.”
Zelensky is slated to visit the White House on Friday as the two countries finalise an agreement that would give the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals supply. Proponents of the deal have suggested the economic partnership would give the US a vested interest in protecting Ukraine against future threats from Russia.
Trump campaigned on ending the war in Ukraine, and he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month in an effort to kickstart ceasefire talks. Trump said Ukraine joining NATO was “not gonna happen”. Asked Thursday whether he thought he could trust Putin, Trump said he thought the Russian leader would keep his word.
