Inside the 48 hours that Trump turned on Zelensky
CNN
As the long-fraught relationship between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky ripped apart Wednesday, a question that lingered among allies of both men was whether the fight would dash hopes for a US-brokered peace — or, potentially, help it along.
As the long-fraught relationship between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky ripped apart Wednesday, a question that lingered among allies of both men was whether the fight would dash hopes for a US-brokered peace — or, potentially, help it along. Firing off an angry message on his social media platform, Trump labeled Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” blaming him for strong-arming the United States into spending hundreds of billions of dollars “to go into a War that couldn’t be won.” It turned into a daylong series of taunts, which Trump amplified during a speech Wednesday night in Miami, where he declared: “Zelensky better move faster. He’s not going to have a country left.” Both accusations parroted Moscow’s own irony-laden talking points about the war and Ukraine’s president, who declared martial law at the onset of Russia’s invasion, which prevented scheduled elections. Trump’s post was hardly an isolated attack. For years, Trump has viewed Zelensky skeptically, questioning his decisions and — in an episode made famous during Trump’s first impeachment — pressing him to open an investigation into his then-rival Joe Biden. Trump has taken to weaving his criticism of Biden and Zelensky together, suggesting Wednesday night that the Ukrainian president was on a “gravy train” with US assistance during the Biden administration.
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As the long-fraught relationship between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky ripped apart Wednesday, a question that lingered among allies of both men was whether the fight would dash hopes for a US-brokered peace — or, potentially, help it along.