<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/19/ukraine-zelenskyy-says-trump-living-in-russian-disinformation-bubble>
"The US and Ukraine appeared to be heading towards an irreconcilable rift after
Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling the
Ukrainian president “a dictator” and warning that he “better move fast” or he
“won’t have a country left”.
The US leader’s comments on Wednesday, which were rife with falsehoods, came
after Zelenskyy said Trump was “trapped” in a Russian “disinformation bubble,”
following Trump’s claims that Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s 2022 invasion,
remarks that echoed the Kremlin’s narrative.
In a fiery rant on the Truth Social app marking his most direct threat to end
the war on terms aligning with Moscow’s goals, Trump wrote: “A Dictator without
Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country
left.”
He added that Zelenskyy had “done a terrible job” and accused the Ukrainian
president – without evidence – of benefiting from continuing US financial and
military support, suggesting he had an interest in prolonging the war rather
than seeking its end.
The US president wrote that Zelenskyy, whom he dismissed as “a modestly
successful comedian”, had “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.
“The only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle’,” Trump wrote.
The unprecedented escalation of tensions between Kyiv and Washington came after
senior US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the
war in Ukraine, as well as economic and political cooperation, indicating a
fundamental shift in the US approach to Moscow.
Ukraine and Europe were excluded from the talks, increasing fears that Trump
could push for a peace deal favouring Vladimir Putin.
“We are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all
admit only ‘TRUMP’ and the Trump Administration, can do,” Trump wrote. At a
conference in Miami later on Wednesday, Trump claimed Zelenskyy could have
attended the Saudi talks “if he wanted” – Zelenskyy has denied this, and Trump
administration officials were clear beforehand that the talks were bilateral
between Russia and the US. Trump said on Wednesday that the talks had gone
“very, very well”.
Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy, in a combative press conference in Kyiv, said
the US president was pushing “a lot of disinformation coming from Russia”.
“Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect for him as the leader of
a nation that we respect greatly … is trapped in this disinformation bubble,”
Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy’s comments, in turn, were a response to a series of inflammatory
remarks on Tuesday evening, in which Trump first criticised him and suggested
Ukraine was to blame for Moscow’s invasion."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
