Trump calls Zelensky a dictator
US President Trump has slammed his Ukrainian counterpart and put him under immense pressure. As "a dictator without elections" Volodymyr Zelensky "better move fast or he is not going to have a country left", Trump warned. His attacks come after his call with kremlin boss Putin and the meeting between the US secretary of state and Russian foreign minister in Riyadh. Most commentators in Europe's press reject the accusations in style and content.
Driven by desire for revenge
For Aftonbladet, the attacks show that Trump still has a score to settle with Zelensky:
“There are reports that Trump is angry that Ukraine rejected the 'peace proposal' presented by the US last week. ... But Trump's desire for revenge goes back even further. His relations with Zelensky have been strained since 2019, when Trump asked him to investigate Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. This was before the 2020 US presidential elections, when Hunter Biden was working for a Ukrainian energy company. It's entirely understandable that Trump is still angry that Zelensky didn't launch an investigation to help him win the election. And the fact is: Donald Trump never forgets old grievances.”
An obstacle to rapprochement with Moscow
Political scientist Petro Oleshchuk analyses Trump's geopolitical calculations on Facebook:
“Trump is methodically abandoning Ukraine, but not because he's angry at the country or its president. Trump wants to resume relations with Russia, improve them and intensify trade between the two countries. Because he not only sees this as an advantage in terms of Russia's resources, but also as an opportunity to weaken China by depriving it of an important satellite state. Ukraine is a natural obstacle on this path, which needs to be removed. However simply surrendering a large democratic state would be 'out of order', so it has to be discredited first.”
No saint
The Ukrainian president's shortcomings must not be ignored, columnist Freddy Gray admonishes in The Spectator:
“In our eagerness to champion the man in the military fatigues, we overlooked the more sordid aspects of his leadership. The Pandora papers showing his links to shady offshore bank accounts were forgotten about. His ties to deeply corrupt and double-dealing oligarchs, such as Ihor Kolomoisky, were brushed over. His ruthless suppression of Moscow-affiliated religious groups was dismissed as Kremlin 'disinformation'.”
A special kind of sheriff
Donald Trump's statements about Ukraine are scandalous, the Stuttgarter Zeitung rails:
“To call it a distortion of reality would be an understatement. The most powerful man in the world is spreading fake news. ... US Vice President JD Vance said recently that Trump was the new sheriff in town. But the behaviour of the government in Washington towards Ukraine is like that of a policeman who asks the victim of an armed burglary: 'What do you want from me? Why didn't you just offer to let the burglar sleep on the couch in your living room?' ... Trump - this much is clear - is not a sheriff who is not genuinely interested in keeping order. He is someone who wants to use his power for his own interests.”
Kremlin propaganda swallowed whole
Republica.ro is up in arms:
“Today we learn from Donald Trump that America supported Ukraine with 350 billion dollars in a war 'which can never be won'. ... Moreover, Trump tells us, the 'actor' Zelensky is responsible for the deaths of so many Ukrainians, and has not held elections once during wartime, which makes him a destroyer of his own country and a world-class dictator. ... Trump is a kind of Putin, but one who is more willing to expose himself publicly than the man from the Kremlin. Trump is adopting the full Russian propaganda agenda - notwithstanding the fact that elections in wartime are not even legal.”
Farewell to Western values
For La Repubblica, this is betrayal:
“Every leader who visited Kyiv told the Ukrainians that they were fighting for the freedom of the entire Western world. These words were understood as a concrete pledge of support. ... Donald Trump has swept away the promise that sustained them through three years of sacrifices. The US president used the same phrases as the Russian president, blurring the lines between democracy and autocracy. This ridicules the values that Ukrainians have held dear since the revolution on the Maidan: the desire to break free from all ties to the Kremlin and reaffirm their nation's European identity. ... It is the betrayal of an alliance that was never military, but was born of a shared vision of history for which hundreds of thousands of people have paid the price in blood.”
Falling for Moscow's tricks
Večernji list explains why Trump is now attacking Zelensky:
“Zelensky would never give up territory, just as Vučić would never give up Kosovo. That's why Trump is now doing all he can to eliminate Zelensky by forcing unlawful presidential elections in wartime. ... Trump is fulfilling everything on Putin's wish list without realising that Putin will never be satisfied and that under him, Russia will just wait for the next opportunity to pick up where it left off.”
He only has himself to blame
According to a Facebook post by political scientist Nikolai Mitrochin, Zelensky provoked Trump's accusations by rejecting the US raw materials deal:
“Zelensky's complete diplomatic failure in relations with the US under Trump is the result of his 'diplomatic talents'. ... First Zelensky throws into the ring the 'brilliant idea' of exchanging Ukraine's rare earths potential for US aid and protection - and doesn't expect anything concrete to come of it, but then he is presented with a contract. Which he refuses to sign. And then it turns out that it's not just Zelensky who can put partners under pressure and say nasty things.”
Ukrainians stand behind Zelensky
Trump's tirades may have an unintended effect, writes The Spectator:
“Ukrainians don't like it when foreign leaders tell them what to do - whether they are Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump. .... It's likely that Zelensky's approval ratings will improve after Trump's parroting of the Kremlin's talking points. Ukrainian opposition figures are already taking Zelensky's side. ...Trump is ignoring one crucial factor: the Ukrainian people. ... Zelensky's refusal to hand over Ukraine's resources to Trump is widely supported by Ukrainians. If anything, his defiance against Trump means voters are more likely to overlook his domestic missteps until the war ends.”