Angered him during the peace talks with Russia, with the US president being on the verge of withdrawing military support from heaven, according to US officials at Axios.
The conflict between Trump and Zelenski escalated in a word war that had an impact on Europe as well. Europeans are concerned about it, as well as the reward of its violent expansionism.
“President Trump is obviously very disappointed with President Zelenski,” National Security Advisor Mike Walts said in a White House press briefing.
The past of their relationship
Donald Trump and Volodimir Zelensk have a difficult relationship since 2019, when the current US president was brought to trial because he tried to exploit US military assistance to Ukraine. In return, the Ukrainian president would have to appoint his son Joe Biden for jerk to a natural gas company in Ukraine.
Now, Trump is more difficult than expected to fulfill his promise to quickly implement an agreement on the end of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine.
The incidents that angered Trump
Six government officials tell Axios that during the last nine days there were five incidents that angered Donald Trump, Vice President Jay Di Vans, Foreign Minister Marko Rubio and Mike Waltz.
One of the officials who spoke to Axios said characteristically that “”, when you are going to attract Donald Trump’s support.
The timing of Zelenski’s movements
- On February 12, US Secretary of Occupational Skott Bessed met with President Volodimir Zelnes in Kiev to offer him a proposal that would give the US access to Ukrainian Rights of Mineral Resources in return for De Facto. On the other hand, Donald Trump told reporters that his Ukrainian counterpart was rude and was delayed at the meeting because he was sleeping.
- On February 14 at the Munich Security Conference, Jay Di Vance and Mark Rubio met with Volodimir Zelenski to get his approval to “close” the agreement on the mining rights. But, as officials said, the Ukrainian president surprised him by saying that he had no power to approve the agreement unilaterally without parliament.
- On February 15, Volodimir Zelensky publicly rejected the offer at the conference. White house sources noted that his comments to journalists, that the deal “was not in the interest of a sovereign Ukraine”, were significantly from the most positive sound comments he had made in the X in previous days.
- On February 18, as Mark Rubio, Mike Walts and Presidential envoy Steve Witkov sat on the negotiating table with Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia, to discuss Irene, Kiev’s participation. The angry Trump then attacked his Ukrainian counterpart at a press conference in Mar-A-Lago, falsely implying that Zelenski had begun the war with Russia and that the acceptance rate was only 4%.
- On February 19, Volodimir Zelenski counterattacked, saying that the US president “lives in a misinformation area”. Donald Trump then increased the pressure by publishing on Truth Social that O. At the same time, however, the US president has not used corresponding characterizations for Vladimir Putin, as Axios notes.
The comments
Jay Di Vance told the conservative media “The National Plus” on Wednesday that Zelenski should have expressed his complaints “in a private debate with American diplomats”. He added that the Ukrainian President “attacks the only reason for which there is [η Ουκρανία]publicly, right now. And that’s a shame. And it’s not something that will move the US president. In fact, it will have the opposite effect. “
Government sources told Axios that Vans’ comment on Donald Trump’s situation was a not -so -disguised threat of withdrawal from Ukraine.
White House attitude
In the White House opinion, Volodimir Zelenski was accustomed to the open support of former US President Joe Biden in the war with Russia, the full support of NATO, and the positive image he had in the press. So, he exceeded the landscapes.
“Zelenski is an actor who committed a common mistake for the theater children: he began to believe that he is the character he plays on television,” a White House official who participated in the talks told Axios. He also added that, “Yes, he was brave and stood against Russia. But it would be six feet below the earth, if there were no millions we spent, and he had to leave the stage. “
“We created a monster with Zelensky,” commented another official, “and these Trump terrorists, Europeans who do not send troops, give him awful advice.”
In addition, a third US government official noted that “during a week, his foreign minister and his vice -president. All this before proceeding with President Trump’s personal insult to the press. ” “What Zelenski thought would happen,” he concluded.
The next steps
Donald Trump’s team continues their negotiations with Volodimir Zelenski. At the same time, it is preparing a new agreement on the rights to exploit mineral resources that will be part of a truce agreement.
The agreement that Donald Trump seems to be negotiating could be extremely controversial, according to Axios. Based on their public and private statements, the US president’s team is expected to push Volodimir Zelenski to hand over Crimea (occupied by Vladimir Putin in 2014), parts of Eastern Ukraine, but also the Azov Coast (which was occupied by the Azov coast. during its invasion in 2022).
