Russia says Trump showed ‘restraint’ against ‘scumbag’ Zelenskyy

Russia's foreign ministry praises Trump's restraint in not hitting Zelenskyy during White House shouting match, calling it a miracle.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday (February 28, 2025) said U.S. President Donald Trump showed “restraint” by not hitting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their shouting match in the White House.

“I think Zelenskyy’s biggest lie of all his lies was his assertion in the White House that the Kyiv regime in 2022 was alone, without support,” she wrote on Telegram.

“How Trump and Vance held back from hitting that scumbag is a miracle of restraint,” she said, adding that Mr. Zelenskyy was “biting the hand that feeds him”.

She accused Mr. Zelenskyy of being “unpleasant with everyone”.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, called Mr. Zelenskyy an “insolent pig” who had received “a proper slap down in the Oval Office”.

Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, called the heated confrontation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelenskyy “historic”.

Mr. Dmitriev was one of Moscow’s negotiators in the Russian-American talks held on February 18 in Saudi Arabia, the first since Russia began its Ukraine offensive in 2022.