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FUMING President Zelensky has blasted the US for helping Putin and accused Trump of living in a “Russian disinformation bubble” following the Republican’s shock comments last night.
The US President had slammed Zelensky’s approval ratings, called for fresh Ukraine elections and appeared to suggest that Ukraine started the war with Russia following the historic peace talks in Saudi Arabia.
Zelensky has accused Moscow of misleading Trump, saying: “Unfortunately, President Trump, who we have great respect for as leader of the American people … lives in this disinformation space.”
Speaking right after the US and Russian foreign ministers held talks in Saudi Arabia, Zelensky continued: “We want security guarantees this year because we want to end the war this year.”
The Ukrainian president also said the costs of the war in Ukraine so far sits at $320 billion, with $120 billion paid by Ukraine and the rest from the US and Europe – but Trump disputes the numbers.
The US President has previously stressed that the US wants the equivalent of $500 billion worth of rare earth minerals from Ukraine in exchange for support.
But Zelensky said the American demands are “not a serious conversation,” adding: “I am protecting Ukraine. I can’t sell our country”.
The Ukrainian president also shared that while the US alleges that 90 per cent of support for Ukraine comes from them, “the truth is somewhere else”.
Zelensky added: “We are grateful for their support”.
He made the comments shortly before he was expected to meet with the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg, who arrived in Kyiv today.
Kellogg will meet Zelensky and military commanders in the midst of the US shifting its policy away from years of efforts to isolate Putin.
The Ukrainian president said it’s important the US special envoy “walks on Kyiv streets” to then “talk to people about whether they trust their President, whether they trust Putin”.
All we know from day one of the peace talks
It comes as Donald Trump revealed he is ready to meet with mad Russian leader Vladimir Putin within days – but US spies have warned that Russia isn’t preparing to stop the bloodbath war in Ukraine.
The Republican remains optimistic that he has “the power to end this war” following crunch talks – and blames Ukrainian President Zelensky for “starting” it.
Speaking for the first time after top US and Russian diplomats held historic peace talks on Tuesday, Trump revealed that he will “probably” meet with his pal mad Vlad before the end of the month.
He also slammed concerns from Ukraine of having no seat in the talks – and boldly blamed Zelensky for starting the devastating war.
Trump argued that Kyiv could have made a deal with Putin three years prior to avoid the Moscow invasion.
He said: “Today I heard, ‘oh, we weren’t invited’.
“Well you’ve been there for three years, you should have ended it.
“You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
He added: “I like [Zelensky] personally. He’s fine. But I don’t care about personally.
“I care about getting the job done. You have leadership now that’s allowed a war to go on.”
French President Emmanuel Macron was to hold a video conference on Ukraine today with leaders of over 15 countries, mostly European nations.
The meeting comes with the aim of gathering all partners interested in peace and security on the continent, his office said.
Key European leaders held an emergency meeting in Paris on Monday after they felt they had been sidelined by the Trump administration following the historic peace talks between the US and Russia.
Meanwhile US intelligence and its closest allies warn that Putin doesn’t plan on abandoning his goal and believes he can outlast Ukraine and Europe to seize full control of the country.
One congressional source told NBC that the US has “zero intelligence that Putin is interested in a real peace deal right now”.
And a Western intelligence source said that the dictator “thinks he’s winning,” despite the gargantuan figure of Russian casualties.
Another added that while Putin may agree to a “ceasefire” in Ukraine, it would be for a chilling ulterior motive to rebuild his armed forces.
The sources believe that Putin’s willingness for peace talks could also be to gain potentially concessions and attempt to reenter the international arena.
They added that mad Vlad has no plans to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine or reposition any forces or equipment away from Russia’s west.
In Estonia, reports have emerged that Russia is expanding its armed forces to continue supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine – and prepare for a chilling future confrontation with Nato.
Despite heavy losses in Ukraine, Russia looks to increase the size of its army to 1.5 million by 2026, and near Estonia, Putin’s puppets have formed multiple units, Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service reports.
The US has paused immigration applications filed by migrants from Ukraine and Latin America, according to CBS news.
The decision was reportedly made due to concerns over fraud and security, sources said.
Around 240,000 Ukrainians were allowed into the US as part of Biden’s Uniting for Ukraine policy – many of which filed applications to allow them to legally stay or settle in the US, CBS added.
The freeze on processing will reportedly remain in place while officials review vetting procedures.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was at the negotiating table on Wednesday, praised Donald Trump for criticising Zelensky, branding the Ukrainian president “pathetic,” state media reports.
According to state-run TASS news agency, Lavrov said: “[Trump] is a completely independent politician.
“Besides that, he is a person who is used to talking directly.
“Such people typically do not hide their opinions about pathetic individuals like Mr Zelensky.”
And one of Putin’s closest allies has called Zelensky a “cornered rat”.
And after Trump turned against the Kyiv president, he could set off a nuclear dirty bomb, claimed ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
His rant came as Russian propaganda spiralled on what has been seen as warm ties forming between Trump and Putin by demanding a “military coalition” of Washington and Moscow to “divide Europe to hell”.
Gloating Medvedev’s onslaught on Zelensky further suggests that Putin thinks he is close to winning the war – and that the Ukrainian leader is floundering.
He said: “The rat is cornered – its behaviour can be completely unpredictable.
“It scurries around, squeaks frantically and, as a rule, in such cases, eventually rushes into a counterattack.
“Therefore, any provocation can be expected from a shaking rodent with running eyes in order to disrupt the settlement and to continue the war to the last Ukrainian.”
He chillingly added that Russia should “up the strikes on their cities, on their civilian population or even use weapons of mass destruction like ‘dirty bomb’.”
Past Prime Minister Boris Johnson has weighed in on Trump’s controversial comments, explaining that they “are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action”.
He said on X: “When are we Europeans going to stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?
“In particular the US can see $300bn of frozen Russian assets – mainly in Belgium.
“That is cash that could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support.
“Why is Europe preventing the unfreezing of Putin’s cash? The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast.”
He also said that “Ukraine didn’t start the war,” explaining it would be like claiming the US attacked Japan at Pearl Habor.
The ex-PM also dismissed Trump’s claim about Zelensky’s approval ratings.
As Europe reels from Trump blaming Kyiv for the war, minister Dame Diana Johnson said that Britain will “play our part” in pushing for security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any peace settlement.
Facing questions from broadcasters on Wednesday, the minister declined to call out the US president’s comments but said Britain is clear that Russia’s invasion has been “an act of war against a sovereign state”.
TUESDAY’S CRUNCH TALKS
Present at the negotiating table on Tuesday was US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz all sat down in Riyadh’s Diriyah Palace.
They were joined by outspoken Putin cronies Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushako.
After some five hours of crunch talks, both parties agreed that elections should be held in Ukraine before a final peace deal is achieved.
The proposal has now sparked speculations that Zelensky could be ousted and a pro-Russian leadership could be installed in Kyiv.
Trump, however, emphasised that the proposal for a fresh election in Ukraine did not come from the Russian side – but from him.
He said: “We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine, where the leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4 per cent approval rating, and where a country has been blown to smithereens.
“If Ukraine wants a seat at the table, wouldn’t the people have to say it has been a long time since they had an election?
“That’s not a Russian thing, that’s something coming from me and coming from many other countries also.”
Despite Trump’s claims that Zelensky has 4 per cent approval ratings, an opinion poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in February found that 57 per cent of Ukrainians trusted their president – up from 52 per cent in December.
Zelensky acknowledged Trump’s claim in today’s news conference, saying that if anyone wanted to replace him as a leader right now, it wouldn’t work due to his high approval rating.
During the crunch talks, The US delegation led by Rubio also agreed not to send any foreign troops to Ukraine.
This opposes Starmer’s call, backed by other European leaders, to put peacekeeping troops in Ukraine as part of any peace deal brokered by the US President.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a rallying cry to Europe urging leaders to “step up” and deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
The PM vowed the UK will “do our bit” to try and enforce a peace deal.
Speaking in Paris, he said: “Europe must play its role, and I’m prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement.
“But there must be a US backstop because a US security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”
The bold move put pressure on Britain’s allies to also publicly back the idea of a European peacekeeping force in war-torn Ukraine.
France and Sweden spoke out in favour of the plan at a crisis summit in Paris on Monday but didn’t go as far as Starmer who said he is willing to deploy British troops.
But the idea was dramatically rejected by a number of other fellow leaders.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described Starmer’s pleas as “premature” and “highly inappropriate”.
He then stormed out of the meeting adding that the sheer thought of making decisions seemingly on behalf of Ukraine was “irritating”.
Trump is also said to withdraw US troops from Nato’s front line with Russia in the Baltics, a report claims.
The US president is looking to pull American forces out of parts of Europe.
It is not clear whether that withdrawal would be part of a wider peace deal with Putin or something Trump wants to do independently of that.
Just days ago, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said that the US is no longer “primarily focused” on Europe’s security.
British boots in Ukraine has been met with Ukrainian joy
BY Noa Hoffman in Lviv and Kyiv
SIR Keir Starmer’s pledge to deploy “British boots in Ukraine” has been met with jubilance in Kyiv.
But in Britain it’s raised more questions than answers as to how Europe must respond to the war.
In eerie Kyiv men between 20 – 50 are few and far between on the frozen streets.
Most of them are stationed across the frontline, have been injured or died fighting what they see as not just a battle for Ukraine – but for the West and Europe and democracy.
From the UK they need certainty. Not empty words.
The PM knows he desperately needs to set out a path to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence.
How is it feasible for thousands of troops to come and help desperate Ukrainians when Sir Keir hasn’t even explained how he will fund them?
In an empty restaurant in quiet Lviv, I watched as five Ukrainian security chiefs guzzled a shot of vodka.
It was around their fourth toast of night – easy work for these hard as nails military men.
Having drunk to the health of their country and army, this next drink was for Britain.
The chiefs had heard Sir Keir Starmer pledge the possibility of peacekeeping British boots on Ukrainian soil. And for that they were elated.
The promise from the PM came in the wake of US President Donald Trump side-lining Kyiv to kickstart discussions on a deal to end the war with Vladimir Putin.
“Even hearing the words British boots, before anything has happened, is a huge morale boost for my people”, one military top brass told me as he slurped bright red Borscht.
The human tank added: “Many steps in the war are being made first by Britain and then others followed.
“It’s good leadership and this is how it should be. Someone needs to take the lead.”
What he and his top brass colleagues around the table weren’t seeing was the chaos the PM’s announced had sparked.
At home, former British Army chief Lord Dannatt warned the UK military is “so run down” it couldn’t lead any future peacekeeping mission to Kyiv.
Other military sources told The Sun’s defence man Jerome Starkey the army will be stretched to breaking point if thousands of troops go to hold the line in Ukraine.
In Paris last night, at an emergency meeting of leaders to strategize Europe’s response to Trump, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz slated Sir Keir’s proposal.
He told reporters: “It is completely premature and the completely wrong time to be having this discussion now.”
While the response went down more like a cup of cold sick than vodka with military leaders I met in Kyiv, Mr Scholz has somewhat of a point.
There are questions Sir Keir must answer – and fast.
Security chiefs tell me that more than anything, including British boots, they need weapons.
The future of the war is in the air, they say.
Drones, missiles, and air defence capabilities are in short supply but are key to stopping “idiot” Putin’s killing spree.
The war will be far more focused on tech than people in the not distant future.
Responding to Scholz’s backlash against British peacekeepers, a former Ukrainian SAS man told me: “Germany doesn’t have to be afraid of the Russians. There’s no point in being scared.
“If we have well trained British military here on the second or third line it can be very helpful so we can send our people to the frontline.”
He added: “What I’m hearing from Germany is disappointing. Historically, Germany they are scared of Nazi flashbacks.
“There are people saying Germans can’t be on sovereign Ukrainian soil.
“This is bull**** said by people who support Russian propaganda.”
In Lviv I received a warning.
“We will fight until the death,” a security chief told me.
“We have nothing to lose. We are not going anywhere.
“But the war is not about Ukraine and it won’t stop in Ukraine.
“Putin is coming to Europe and we can’t stop him forever.”
Sir Keir’s words are welcomed – but it will be his plan of execution that really has any bearing on the devastating war.
So far that is missing.
