President Donald Trump addressed escalating tensions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Friday, warning he has “had it” with the backlash as the U.S. works with Russian officials to broker a peace deal in the ongoing war.
Trump argued Zelenskyy has “no cards” to negotiate leverage for a deal on “The Brian Kilmeade Show,” as the pair have publicly hurled insults at one another in recent days.
“I’ve been watching this man for years now as his cities get demolished, as his people get killed, as his soldiers get decimated,” Trump told Brian Kilmeade.
“I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards, and you get sick of it,” he continued. “You just get sick of it, and I’ve had it.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with then-U.S. president-elect Donald Trump at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, France on Dec. 07, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Trump argued Zelenskyy is a poor negotiator, noting Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Ukraine last week to broker a mineral agreement, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but said the pair “couldn’t even come close” to a deal.
The president said the entire trip was dangerous for Bessent, and a waste of time.
The deal would have facilitated U.S. investment in the war-torn nation and also provided “the best security guarantee they could ever hope for,” according to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials traveled to Saudi Arabia to discuss a possible peace deal with Russian counterparts, a meeting that Ukraine was not invited to.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Waltz met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, to hash out ways to end the conflict.
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Zelenskyy told reporters Tuesday in Turkey that “nobody decides anything behind our back,” after stressing in recent days that Kyiv will not agree to a peace negotiation without Ukraine’s input.
“I get tired of listening to it,” Trump responded. “I’ve seen it enough, and then he complains that he’s not at a meeting that we’re having with Saudi Arabia trying to intermediate peace. Well, he’s been at meetings for three years with a… president who didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He’s been at the meetings for three years and nothing got done, so I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you. He’s been there for three years. He’s he makes it very hard to make deals.”
U.S. officials also have met with Ukrainian officials about a peace deal. Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg said Wednesday in a post on X that the U.S. remains committed to ending the war and finding ways to establish “sustainable peace.”
Trump placed blame for the war on then-President Biden’s inability to negotiate with Putin.
“Joe Biden is a very dumb man who was dumber than ever before,” he said. “He had no idea what he was doing, and everything he said was wrong. And I said, you know what… I think he’s going to cause a war. And that’s what happened… Putin could have been talked out of that so easy, but they didn’t know how to talk… but [Biden] said all the wrong things – and I’m not trying to make Putin like nicer or better – I’m just telling you the fact that war should have never happened. Putin would have never gone in.”
Trump now says a peace deal between the countries is only possible because he is back in office.
“They only want to talk because of me,” Trump said. “If I wasn’t involved, they wouldn’t be talking to each other, and Russia would continue to… go through Ukraine… They’ve taken a lot of land, and Russia would continue the march through Ukraine. If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t be talking at all. I’m the only reason they’re talking.”
“I’ve been watching this go on for years, and I’m doing it for one reason,” he said. “I hate the killing. I hate to see those young people killed. They’re not Americans. They’re Russians and Ukrainians. I hate to see the killing.”
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
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