Watch as Vladimir Putin speaks at an AI and technology forum in Moscow on Friday, 21 February.
It comes after Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on Ukraine, falsely claiming Volodymyr Zelensky’s nation started the war rather than Moscow invading Ukraine in 2022.
Adding to the attacks, Elon Musk has now claimed without evidence that Ukrainians “despised” their leader.
The row appears to have begun after Ukraine was left out of peace talks between US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Trump and Mr Putin spoke on a three-hour call, after which Mr Trump and his ally launched a barrage of false attacks on Mr Zelensky.
The US president began echoing Kremlin propaganda in suggesting that Kyiv was to blame for Russia’s invasion – prompting Mr Zelensky to warn that Mr Trump was living in a “disinformation” bubble.
Mr Trump lashed out at the Ukrainian president as a “modestly successful comedian” and “dictator” whose only skill was “playing Joe Biden like a fiddle”. In further remarks to journalists, he claimed that Russia “holds the cards” in the ongoing war.
