After the US President Donald Trumpʼs statement that Ukraine allegedly started the war and President Volodymyr Zelensky is a "dictator without elections”, American politicians published a number of statements.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called Trumpʼs comments blaming Ukraine for the war "disgusting". Instead of acknowledging the full-scale war started by Russia, Trump "strangely blamed Ukraine for Putinʼs invasion".
"Itʼs disgusting to see an American president turn his back on one of our friends and openly side with a thug like Vladimir Putin," Schumer stressed.
Trumpʼs former Vice President Mike Pence addressed him, saying that "Ukraine did not start this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion, taking hundreds of thousands of lives. The path to peace must be built on truth".
Republican Congressman Mike Lawler wrote that Putin is a vile dictator and thug, "he is not our friend or ally".
"Regarding elections, of course, Ukraine should have free and fair elections, but this demand from Putin and Russia is both comical and self-serving. Russia continues to influence and interfere in elections throughout Eastern Europe, it cannot be allowed to install a puppet and apologist for Putin in order to simply seize control from within," he explained.
The politician is convinced that the United States must counter the alliance of Russia, China, and Iran, "which has caused death and destruction around the world".
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said that “not since Czechoslovakia has a democratic state been so betrayed by a Western power”, adding that Trump’s appeasement of the Russian dictator will be remembered.
- On February 18, Russia and the United States held their first talks in Saudi Arabia. No specific date has been agreed upon for the meeting between Putin and Trump, which is unlikely to take place next week. However, the parties agreed to create negotiating groups to end the war in Ukraine.
- After the talks, the US President Donald Trump criticized Kyiv and Brussels, and also supported holding elections in Ukraine. In his opinion, there were opportunities to conclude a peace agreement with Russia during the "three years of war".
- The next day, February 19, Trump claimed that Zelensky had only a 4% approval rating. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) published research showing that as of the first half of February 2025, 57% of Ukrainians trusted Zelensky.
- The President of Ukraine reacted and said that Trump is in a "circle of disinformation".
- Donald Trump later called Zelensky an “unelected dictator” who allegedly persuaded the United States to “spend $350 billion on a war that cannot be won and should never have been started”. Trump said that “Zelensky has done a terrible job, his country is ruined” and that he has little time left.
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