Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit back at the increasingly critical and false claims being made about him in the Oval Office on Wednesday by suggesting that US President Donald Trump was living in a “disinformation space”.
By meeting with senior Russian officials in Riyadh yesterday, The United States had “helped to end Putin’s years of isolation”, Zelensky said, noting that “yesterday the Russians were treated like the victims” rather than the aggressors.
Zelensky also pointed out the softening of the Trump administration’s tone towards Moscow, which he said involved it “calling the war a ‘conflict’ rather than a war”.
Responding to Trump’s demand that Ukraine hold elections before any peace deal could be reached with Russia, Zelensky refuted Trump’s claim that his approval rate among Ukrainians stood at just 4% and pointed to a recent survey that revealed some 57% of Ukrainians approved of his leadership.
“If somebody wants to replace me right now, it won’t work,” Zelensky told reporters, adding that the 4% approval rate was just another example of Russian disinformation, something Ukrainians already knew all about. Just 1% of the Ukrainian population was in favour of making concessions to Moscow, Zelensky continued, adding that “nobody in Ukraine believes Putin”.
When asked why he had turned down a deal proposed by Trump to pass on 50% of revenues generated by Ukraine’s natural resources worth some $500 billion in exchange for the continued provision of US military aid, Zelensky took the opportunity to fact checked some of Trump’s claims about which countries had offered financial and military support to Ukraine.
“The story that 90% of aid came from the US… You and I understand that the truth is a little different,” Zelensky told reporters. “We are certainly grateful for the aid, but you cannot donate $500 billion and then demand $500 billion worth of minerals in return. It’s just not serious.”
Zelensky said that to date the war had cost Kyiv $320 billion, $120 billion of which was paid for by Ukraine, with the remaining $200 billion funded by the US and Europe.
“The US made a vague offer on rare earth metals. No security guarantees,” Zelensky said, adding that the only clear proposal was the guarantee to allow the US access to half of all its metals, something he ultimately declined, arguing that any agreement without security guarantees would be pointless.
“I am defending Ukraine, I can’t sell the state,” Zelensky claimed to have said by way of a response.