President Donald Trump said the United States “will not put up with” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s anti-peace rhetoric “much longer.”
Trump took to Truth Social after the Associated Press reported Monday that Zelensky said peace between Russia and Ukraine “is still very, very far away.”
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump wrote, sharing an image of the AP headline.
“It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing,” Trump added before zoning in on the meeting between Zelensky and European leaders over the weekend.
“Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. – Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?” he wrote.
Trump and Zelensky met Friday at the White House in what was supposed to be a positive day, full of anticipation of a mineral deal that never came to fruition.
Before a private lunch was set to take place, Zelensky, Trump, and Vice President JD Vance spoke before press in the Oval Office. Those talks in the Oval Office devolved before the planned private meeting due to Zelensky’s attitude. At one point, Zelensky asked Vance, referring to him as “JD,” “what kind of diplomacy” he was referring to.
“I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,” Vance said as Zelensky interrupted him.
Trump also lit into Zelensky as the Ukrainian president became bolder before the press.
“You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards, but right now … you’re gambling with lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump told Zelensky.
Vance and Trump both told Zelensky he was behaving in a “disrespectful” manner.
Trump felt that Zelensky was unready for negotiations following the Oval Office discussions, as Semafor’s Shelby Talcott reported and a White House official later confirmed to Breitbart News.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz “informed Zelenskyy that he was being asked to leave and the negotiations were over for the day,” Talcott noted.
This followed Trump’s Truth Social post where he wrote he had determined Zelensky “is not ready for Peace if America is involved.”
“He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump said.
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