Shortly after the first meeting between United States representatives and Russian officials on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelensky criticised the Trump administration’s negotiating tactics in the harshest terms possible for excluding Ukrainians from talks on the fate of their own country. The same evening, the Ukrainian leader faced a harsh attack from US politicians and leading media figures on social media.
Conflict initiation
US President Donald Trump said on February 18 that Zelensky’s approval rating was 4%. Trump also criticised Zelensky, holding him responsible for starting a full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, and called for new elections for the Ukrainian president. In response, Zelensky rebuked the Trump administration, which he said was “softening policy” on Russia, calling the war a “violation of territorial integrity” and a “conflict.” Then Trump, Trump’s son, Elon Musk and a lot of American media began to speak negatively about Zelensky without hesitation.
On Wednesday evening, Trump’s special representative for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, arrived in Ukraine. In Kyiv, Kellogg clearly defined his status as a transmission link – he said he would mostly listen in Ukraine, and then return to the US and discuss everything with Trump.
After the US-Russia talks, Zelensky was also criticised by former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. He stated that Zelensky had lost the war. And not only to Russia, but also Ukraine’s war “for the European way.” For persecuting political opponents, he accused Zelensky of turning Ukraine into North Korea, all because he does not want to take responsibility for his decisions and is afraid of jail time for treason.
Sluggish support from associates
Rada speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk came out in support of Zelensky. He wrote a bilingual column in social networks with the title “Ukraine needs bullets, not ballots.” He also added that elections are possible only after the end of martial law. Then they will take place and be democratic. At the end Stefanchuk called Zelensky “Mr President,” and capitalises both of these words subserviently.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz supported Zelensky, saying that “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the legitimate head of Ukraine.”
Bohdan Krotevych, one of Azov’s commanders, sent Musk a message in response to Zelensky’s accusations, but then quickly deleted his post.
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko wrote on social media: This is the only way out that I see. Zelensky should come out and say: I am not planning to run for election. But the elections will be held only when the US guarantees Ukrainian security and there is a ceasefire. In this way, we will remove this whole story with “dictators” and “elections.” And we will focus on the really important things: the army, the front line and the agreements on which the fate of the country depends. That’s it. This is what the President of Ukraine should do. Not to measure ratings.”
Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of Ukraine’s Batkivshchyna party, also commented on Trump’s call for elections in Ukraine, saying that Zelensky allegedly remains legitimate in wartime and “only Ukrainians have the right to decide when and how there will be a change of power.”
Pre-planned rally in support of Zelensky
Meanwhile, Ukrainians marched to the US embassy building in Kyiv after Trump criticised Zelensky, local Telegram channels reported.
The video shows about 30 people standing outside the embassy on a frosty morning. One of the people has a Ukrainian flag with him, while another is wrapped in a US flag.
Zelensky continues to whistle past the graveyard
Meanwhile, Zelensky himself, after a long pause, released another evening video message, in which, however, did not mention Trump and his defeated criticism. Being critically dependent on American aid, the Ukrainian president is afraid to engage in an open dialogue with the Trump administration.
Zelensky continues to stubbornly pretend that everything is going according to plan; on Wednesday, he said in his Telegram feed that he had held phone conversations with French leader Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer’s call to Zelensky was also reported by the British government on its official website. The message says that the head of the British government disagrees with Trump’s opinion that elections should be held in Ukraine.
Macron also said he spoke with Zelensky and Trump after the EU summit on Ukraine in Paris.
“After meeting with several European leaders, I just spoke with US President Donald Trump and then with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,” the French president wrote on X.
Macron believed that to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict, “Russia must stop its aggression” and Ukraine must receive “strong and reliable” security guarantees. “We will work on this together with all Europeans, Americans and Ukrainians. This is the key,” he added.
