United States President Donald Trump has continued his attacks on Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as a White House official said a deal on rare earth minerals was close.
Trump’s statements on Friday continued a days-long screed against Zelenskyy that has sent both Ukraine and Washington’s traditional European allies reeling. The criticism comes amid a wider policy shift on the conflict from the Trump administration, which included a bilateral meeting between US and Russian delegations earlier this week.
In an interview with Fox News radio, the US president again laid the blame for the destruction wrought by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the Ukrainian leader.
When host Brian Kilmeade referred to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “Putin’s fault”, Trump replied: “I get tired of listening to it, I’ll tell you what.”
Trump also said Zelenskyy was “negotiating with no cards” and shot back at Kyiv’s criticism of being sidelined by the US in its recent engagement with Russia.
“He’s been at meetings for three years, and he got nothing, so I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest,” said Trump, who also criticised the Ukrainian leader during a meeting with US governors later in the day.
Meanwhile, White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said on Friday that he believed Ukraine would soon sign a deal that would grant Washington access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in exchange for continued support in the war.
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