Donald Trump calls Volodymyr Zelenskyy ‘a dictator’

• Donald Trump calls Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”, criticising his leadership and legitimacy.
• Trump has opened talks with Moscow, marking a shift in US policy towards Ukraine.
• Zelenskyy accused Trump of spreading Russian disinformation and defended his wartime leadership.

US President Donald Trump has called Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”, widening a personal rift with major implications for efforts to end the conflict triggered by Russia’s invasion three years ago.

The United States had provided funding and arms to Ukraine but, in an abrupt policy shift since coming to power, Trump has opened talks with Moscow.

“A dictator without elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a country left,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform of the Ukrainian leader, whose five-year term expired last year.

pic.twitter.com/PMcrOwXejI

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2025

Ukrainian law does not require elections during wartime.

Earlier this week, Trump held a press conference in which he criticised Zelenskyy, repeated several Kremlin narratives about the conflict and called for an end to the war.

US President Donald Trump (right) called Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky (left) a 'dictator without elections'. Photos / AFP

Zelenskyy in turn accused Trump of succumbing to Russian “disinformation”, including Trump blaming Kyiv for having “started” the war and echoing Kremlin questions over Zelenskyy’s legitimacy.

“He refuses to have elections, is very low in Ukrainian polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing [Joe] Biden ‘like a fiddle’,” said Trump in the Truth post of Zelenskyy.

“In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP’, and the Trump Administration, can do,” Trump wrote in the post.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy in turn accused Trump of succumbing to Russian 'disinformation'. Photo / Getty Images

Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 for a five-year term but has remained leader under martial law imposed following the Russian invasion.

His popularity has eroded but the percentage of Ukrainians who trust him has never dipped below 50% since the conflict started, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

- Agence France-Presse