The president of the United States, Donald Trumphe replied on Thursday with disbelief when the press asked him at the White House about the insult of “dictator” that directed his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelenskiand given that issue, he replied: “I said that?”
A journalist asked Trump, who was in the Oval Office with the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmerif he believes that Zelenski, with whom he will meet this Friday, is a dictator. Given this, the American responded jocularly: “I said that? I can’t believe that I said that. Next question.”
The relations between Washington and kyiv are going through a especially tense moment after Trump surprised Europe and Ukraine when announcing, on February 12, which He had spoken by phone with Putin and reached an agreement with Moscow to start “negotiations immediately” with the aim of ending war.
Contacts between the US and Russia
That first contact between Delegations from the United States and Russia took place February 18 in Saudi Arabiain conversations that could lead to a summit between Trump and Putin. However, neither kyiv nor European countries participated in them, which generated discomfort in the continent.
Zelenski protested by the exclusion of kyiv in these conversations and, last week, intensified his confrontation with Trump, whom he accused of living in a bubble of “misinformation” driven by Russia, while The US president responded by qualifying the Ukrainian leader of “dictator.”
Trump receives Zelenski in the White House
This Friday, Trump will receive Zelenski in the White House with which he hopes to sign an agreement that would grant privileged access to the natural resources of Ukraine, including rare earths, a key sector for technological development and currently dominated by China.
This pact, which Trump presents as compensation for the billions of dollars already sent in military assistance to Ukraine, does not include specific security guarantees by the United States before a possible new attack by Russia, as explained to the press before the meeting US officials.
Precisely, the question of security guarantees to Ukraine It will be one of the main themes at the meeting between Trump and Starmer, according to the same sources.
