With the most consequential talks his country has faced in decades proceeding without his country’s involvement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy punched back -- at doubters, at Russia, and, most notably, at U.S. President Donald Trump.
At a news conference in Kyiv on February 18, Zelenskyy tried to reclaim a narrative that has been spinning out of his reach this week, as senior U.S. and Russian officials met for the first time since before Russia’s launched its all-out onslaught on Ukraine three years ago.
And he sharply criticized the Trump administration – an unusually pointed swipe directed at Kyiv’s biggest supplier of weaponry and military equipment.
"I believe that the United States helped Putin to break out of years of isolation," Zelenskyy said. "All of this has no positive impact on Ukraine.”
Trump, he charged, is pushing “a lot of information that is coming from Russia.”
Anxiety is spiking in Kyiv – not to mention in many supportive European capitals – as Washington and Moscow moved forward this week to lay the groundwork for a possible peace settlement to end the war.
Adding further to the angst: comments, a day earlier, by Trump, who falsely suggested that Ukraine had started the war and, also inaccurately, that Zelenskyy was deeply unpopular among Ukrainians. He also said that a new presidential election should be held.
Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy again on February 19, calling him a “dictator” and suggesting he must agree to a peace deal soon.
"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.
Here’s what you need to know-- not only about Zelenskyy’s news conference but what is shaping up to be one of the most trying weeks of his wartime leadership.
Zelenskyy: Outside Looking In
Zelenskyy had been scheduled to fly to the Saudi capital of Riyadh on February 19 a day after top U.S. and Russian officials met face-to-face to lay the groundwork for peace talks.
Those were the first formal high-level talks between Washington and Moscow since before the February 2022 invasion.
Despite some assurances, and calls from European leaders, to make sure Ukrainian officials are involved in the negotiations, Ukraine has pointedly been left out – at least this initial stage.
Hours after the U.S.-Russian talks wrapped up on February 18, Zelenskyy, on a previously planned trip to Turkey, made clear his position – and his displeasure.
“Decisions on how to end the war in Ukraine cannot be made without Ukraine, nor can any conditions be imposed,” he told reporters. “We were not invited to this Russian-American meeting in Saudi Arabia. It was a surprise for us, I think for many others as well.”
Trump Disses Zelenskyy
If the launch of direct U.S.-Russian talks without Ukraine wasn’t disturbing enough for Zelenskyy, Trump’s blistering criticism likely was.
"Today I heard, 'Oh, well, we weren't invited.' Well, you've been there for three years... You should have never started it. You could have made a deal," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
"They had a seat at the table for three years," Trump said, referring to Ukraine. "When they are worried about not being seated, they could have made a deal long ago.”
“I like him personally,” he said, referring to Zelenskyy, “but it is the leadership that allowed the war to go on."
Russia in fact started the all-out war on February 24, 2022, sending tens of thousands of troops across the border after months of military buildup and threats aimed directly at Kyiv.
They included ultimatums to shrink its army, commit to neutrality, and recognize Russia-backed forces who had seized power in the part of the eastern Donbas region in 2014 with direct military and other support from Moscow.
It wasn’t entirely clear what talks or “table” Trump was referencing, but there have been no negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow since the first few months after the February 2022 invasion. Those talks produced drafts of a potential deal but petered out late that April, as the sides wrangled over points of dispute after revelations of alleged Russian war crimes emerged in the town of Bucha.
In his comments on February 18, Trump also asserted that Zelenskyy was now deeply unpopular, and he suggested that the country must hold elections.
“We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law…in Ukraine,” Trump said. “And the leader of Ukraine, I hate to say it, he’s down at 4 percent approval rating.
In fact, a poll released earlier this month that compared possible candidates for the presidency found that Zelenskyy’s trust ratings remained in the double digits, though he lagged behind Valeriy Zaluzhniy, the former commander-in-chief who is now ambassador to Britain, and two other public figures.
A separate survey released February 19 by the respected Kyiv International Institute for Sociology, showed that Zelenskyy’s trust rating had climbed to 57 percent, up from 52 percent in December.
Zelenskyy used his Kyiv news conference to accuse Trump of parroting Russia’s positions on the causes and the conditions of the war.
"As we are talking about 4 percent, we have seen this disinformation, we understand it's coming from Russia," Zelenskyy told reporters.
"We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia," Zelenskyy said, though he did not describe the evidence. “Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect for him as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly, is living in this disinformation bubble.”
The issue of new elections in Ukraine is complex. The country is indeed under martial law, declared by Zelenskyy shortly after the start of the invasion and prolonged repeatedly since then, which precludes holding voting. Moreover, the logistics of organizing balloting and voting precinct at a time of war – never mind in territories currently occupied by Russia – is near impossible.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the issue to bash Zelenskyy; on the eve of the Riyadh talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov once again questioned the Ukrainian president’s “legitimacy.”
While Zelenskyy remains broadly popular, as Ukrainians have rallied around a wartime leader, Ukrainians are also exhausted and in some cases frustrated by government decision on issues like manpower. Some prominent political figures, such as former President Petro Poroshenko, have made signals that they might mount a challenge to Zelenskyy if an election were held.
Zelenskyy said Trump’s comments parroted the Russian remarks.
“I would like President Trump’s team to have more truth,” Zelenskyy said.
Kellogg’s In Town
Zelenskiy’s news conference on February 19 came shortly before he was scheduled to meet with Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg.
Kellogg did not attend the Riyadh talks, and it’s unclear how central he will be to Trump’s thinking as negotiations coalesce. However, he has voiced at times a relatively hard line toward Moscow.
Arriving at a Kyiv train station, Kellogg said his visit was “a chance to have some good, substantial talks.”
“We understand the need for security guarantees,” he said.
“It’s very clear to us the importance of the sovereignty of this nation and the independence of this nation as well,” he said. “Part of my mission is to sit and listen.”
