Posted by 
Donald Trump has just called Ukraine’s president a “dictator”, hours after he falsely blamed Ukraine for the war on its territory.
The US president posted a tirade against Volodymyr Zelenskyy on social media on Wednesday afternoon.
He claimed the Ukrainian leader “talked 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.”
Presumably alluding to Russia’s ongoing bombardments of Ukraine, Trump then said: “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
This attack was the second one from Trump in the last 24 hours, after he falsely accused Kyiv of starting the war last night.
Apparently addressing Kyiv, The US president told reporters on Tuesday: “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. I could have made a deal for Ukraine.
“That would have given them almost all of the land, everything, almost all of the land – and no people would have killed, and no city would have been demolished.”
“It’s a war that never would have happened if I were president,” he claimed.
The president also said he has the “power to end this war”, and that Russia “want to stop the savage barbarianism”.
He notably did not say that it was Moscow who launched a full-blown attack on Ukraine in a land grab three years ago.
Trump also sent his own diplomats to start early peace negotiations with Russia in the neutral territory of Saudi Arabia this week to Tuesday, but failed to invite either Ukraine or any European representatives.
It was seen as the latest sign that the new White House has dropped Joe Biden’s pro-Ukraine stance and is now out of step with the rest of the west.
After the early talks concluded, Trump was asked by the BBC if the US president had a message for Ukrainians who might feel “betrayed” by not having a seat at the Saudi Arabia talks.
He replied: “I hear they’re [Ukraine] upset about not having a seat.
“Well they’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily.”
The president also laid the groundwork for his later accusations at Zelenskyy, saying: “We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law.”
He falsely alleged Zelenskyy’s approval rating was “at 4%” – the president’s popularity has declined over the course the war, but it was still above 50% late last year – which is higher than Trump’s.
The US president also said: “You know, they want a seat at the table, wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have to have a say, like it’s been a lot of times since we’ve had an election?”
The Republican did not mention how Russian president Vladimir Putin has been in power consistently since 2000 and has held multiple sham elections.
He continued: “A half-baked negotiator could have settled this years ago without, I think, the loss of much land… and without the loss of any lives… and without the loss of cities that are just laying on their side.”
And, potentially sensitive to allegations that he is parroting lines straight from the Kremlin, Trump said on Tuesday: “That’s not a Russia thing; that’s something that’s coming from me.”
Zelenskyy later hit back at the US president after this attack, and accused him of falling for “disinformation” created by Russia.
The Ukrainian president has made it clear his country will not accept any peace deal unless they have a seat at the negotiation table.
Related…
