WHITE House officials have raged at Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he would have been “six feet under” if it wasn’t for US backup.

The scathing remarks come amid a deepening rift between Washington and Kyiv, with President Trump openly questioning Zelensky’s role in ending the war with Russia.

Now, the Ukrainian President was accused of overplaying his hand in negotiations with Trump and alienating key allies.

A senior White House Official said: “Zelensky is an actor who committed a common mistake of theater kids: He started to think he’s the character he plays on TV.

“Yes, he has been brave and stood up to Russia.

“But he would be six feet under if it wasn’t for the millions we spent, and he needs to exit stage right with all the drama.”

‘WE CREATED A MONSTER’

The White House view is that Zelensky grew too accustomed to unwavering support under former President Joe Biden, including billions in military aid and NATO backing.

Now, Trump’s inner circle believes the Ukrainian leader has overstepped, Axios reports.

“We created a monster with Zelensky,” another administration official said.

“And these Trump-deranged Europeans who won’t send troops are giving him terrible advice.”

Zelensky has already clashed with multiple senior figures in Trump’s government.

“In the course of a week, Zelensky rebuffed President Trump’s treasury secretary, his secretary of state and his vice president, all before moving on to personally insulting President Trump in the press,” one official said.

“What did Zelensky think was going to happen?”

Despite the hostility, Trump’s team is still negotiating a mineral-rights deal as part of a proposed peace agreement.

‘NOT VERY IMPORTANT’

Tensions hit a new high after Trump dismissed Zelensky’s importance in peace talks.

“I don’t think he’s very important to be in meetings,” Trump told Fox News.

“He’s been there for three years. He makes it very hard to make deals.”

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Trump doubled down, saying: “I’ve had very good talks with Putin, and I’ve had not such good talks with Ukraine.”

The US President also blasted Zelensky’s wartime leadership, callig him a “modestly successful comedian” who must “move fast or he is not going to have a country left.”

PUTIN PRAISES TRUMP

Russian President Vladimir Putin wasted no time seizing on the growing US-Ukraine rift, praising Trump for “changing his position” once he began to “receive objective information”.

It cams just a mere few hours after Zelensky slammed Trump for living in a “Russian disinformation bubble”.

The Kremlin dictator welcomed this week’s peace talks between Russian and US officials in Saudi Arabia, calling them the “first step” toward restoring Washington-Moscow ties.

Meanwhile, Trump’s Ukraine peace envoy, war hero Keith Kellogg, broke ranks to publicly back Zelensky.