Trump fires back at Zelenskyy, calls him a ‘dictator without elections’
Portrait of Sarah D. WireSarah D. Wire
USA TODAY
President Donald Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” Wednesday in a Truth Social post, extending a verbal sparring match between the two world leaders the day after U.S. and Russian officials met without Ukrainian representation to discuss terms to end Russia’s 3-year-old invasion.
“He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing (former president Joe) Biden ‘like a fiddle.’ A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Zelenskyy canceled an election scheduled for spring 2024, saying it could not be held in the middle of a war and the imposition of martial law in accordance with the Ukrainian Constitution.
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton//File Photo
Trump also claimed Tuesday that Zelenskyy would not win if an election were held and said his approval ratings sat at 4% in Ukraine. An opinion poll released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showed 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelenskyy.
“We have seen this disinformation. We understand that it is coming from Russia,” Zelenskyy told reporters Wednesday, adding that Trump “lives in this disinformation space.”
