Donald Trump has sparked fresh outrage by trying to silence Volodymyr Zelensky, who was defending himself over the US president’s “dictator” slur, and pressure him into a deal with Vladimir Putin.
The White House told Ukraine’s leader to “tone down” his comments – which included his remark that Mr Trump lives in a Russian “disinformation space” – and accused Mr Zelensky of “badmouthing” the US president.
Mr Zelensky was ordered to sign a peace deal with Russia and, adding insult to injury, to hand hundreds of billions of pounds worth of mineral reserves to the US.
The treatment of Mr Zelensky has been condemned as “thin-skinned”.
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Kurt Volker, the US special representative for Ukraine negotiations during President Trump’s first term, said: “I think [Trump] did this out of pique because he saw Zelensky pushing back on things that Trump wanted.”
Mr Trump had “got it all wrong” about Mr Zelensky and Putin, said Mr Volker. “Russia actually IS a dictatorship and attacked Ukraine, a democracy, unprovoked. So [Trump] has got all this backwards.”
Urging Ukraine to rein in its response, White House national security adviser Michael Waltz said in an interview on Fox News: “It’s unacceptable: [Ukraine] need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal.”
The deal he was referring to is Mr Trump’s bid to obtain access to rare minerals in Ukraine in return for aid, or as compensation for support the US has already provided.
“We presented the Ukrainians, really, [with] an incredible and a historic opportunity,” said Mr Waltz. “It would be the best security guarantee they could ever hope for, much more than another pallet of ammunition.”
Mr Waltz added that the Ukrainian leader must cease “badmouthing” the US.
It came after vice-president JD Vance warned Mr Zelensky on Wednesday that attacking Mr Trump in public would backfire.
Mr Vance said: “The idea that Zelensky is going to change the president’s mind by badmouthing him in public media ... everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration.”
Mr Zelensky has publicly rejected the American president’s attempt to take Ukraine’s minerals, saying: “I can’t sell our state.”
He said the deal offer was “not serious” and that it did not provide any specific security guarantees in return for the coveted resources, which include lithium and titanium. He added that the US had supplied his country with $67bn (£53bn) worth of weapons and $31.5bn in direct budget support during the nearly three-year war with Russia.
“You can’t call this $500bn and ask us to return $500bn in minerals or something else. This is not a serious conversation,” Mr Zelensky said.
Amid the astonishing rift between Kyiv and Washington, Mr Zelensky met with Keith Kellogg, US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, on Thursday. The pair shook hands and patted each other on the back; Mr Zelensky smiled and said: “It’s good to see you. How are you?”
But a joint news conference was cancelled at the last minute at the request of the US.
Meanwhile, Britain’s defence minister John Healey added his voice to those in support of Mr Zelensky, saying: “Europe’s best security interests and America’s best security interests are satisfied by an end to this war in Ukraine and by a strong, unified Nato. That’s an argument that we are having and have discussed with the Americans and will continue to make.”
It came after prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “ready and willing” to put UK troops on the ground in Ukraine, with US backing, as a security guarantee in the event of a ceasefire deal between Moscow and Kyiv.
The Kremlin hit back at the plan and said any move to send European troops to Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping mission would be “unacceptable” to Russia.
However, Mr Trump is under fire from some quarters in the US.
Rick Wilson, a Republican Party strategist who worked for president George W Bush’s administration, told the BBC: “Donald Trump sees Putin as the perfect peer.
“He envies Putin psychologically in a lot of ways. Trump would love to be in a world where his critics were thrown in prison or out of a window or died mysteriously. He would love to live in a world where the president’s word was law with no restriction on his behaviour.”
