US envoy meets Zelensky as Trump officials keep pressure on Ukrainian leader
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Mr Keith Kellogg (right), the US' Ukraine and Russia envoy, meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Feb 20.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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KYIV – US President Donald Trump’s envoy for the Ukraine conflict met President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Feb 20, but there was no immediate word on whether their talks had helped smooth over an unprecedented wartime rift between the once firm allies, and key US officials indicated that major frustrations remain.
Mr Zelensky had earlier struck a conciliatory tone after accusing Mr Trump of repeating Russian disinformation
Mr Trump went on to refer to Mr Zelensky as a “dictator”
Mr Trump, in office for just a month, is pushing for a quick deal to end the war and has alarmed Washington’s European allies by leaving them and Ukraine out of initial talks with Russia.
US Vice-President J.D. Vance said on Feb 20 that he believed that an end to the conflict was near and there was no stopping the war without speaking to Russia.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, meanwhile, told a White House press briefing that Mr Zelensky’s insults were unacceptable and that the Ukrainian President needed to come back to the table and discuss a previously floated deal to give the US access to Ukraine’s minerals resources.
Mr Trump’s Ukraine and Russia envoy, Mr Keith Kellogg, had arrived in Kyiv on Feb 19 and said at the time he was there to listen.
Following the meeting, Mr Zelensky wrote on X that he had a detailed and productive conversation with Mr Kellogg about prisoners of war, effective security guarantees that would be part of any peace agreement, and the battlefield situation.
But there were few additional details available, and a planned joint press conference was cancelled at the US’ request, Mr Zelensky’s office said.
Mr Trump is seeking to re-establish ties with Russia and also invest in Ukraine’s mineral resources critical to the energy transition. Ukraine rejected an initial US plan
Reuters reported on Feb 19 that the Trump administration was considering presenting a simplified minerals deal to Mr Zelensky, though the Ukrainian leader made no mention of the revised agreement in his social media remarks.
A possible meeting between Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin “will largely depend on whether we can make any progress on ending the war in Ukraine”, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Feb 20.
“You don’t generally have these meetings until you know some outcome or some progress has been made,” Mr Rubio told journalist Catherine Herridge in an interview broadcast on X.
Security guarantees
European leaders have responded to Mr Trump’s stance on Ukraine by pledging to step up spending on defence, and some are considering a US-backed European peacekeeping force for the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is due to meet Mr Trump in Washington on Feb 24, said on Feb 20 he would tell the US President not to be “weak”
“How can you be credible with China if you’re weak with Putin?” Mr Macron said during a question-and-answer session on social media.
Mr Waltz, for his part, said the US would welcome European-backed security guarantees for Ukraine, and he pushed for all Nato members to be spending at least 2 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence by the military alliance’s next summit, set for June.
The Kremlin says the European plan is major cause for concern but Mr Zelensky and Nato have welcomed it.
“It is vital that... Russia will never again try to take one more square kilometre of Ukrainian land,” Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said.
Russian forces have laid Ukrainian cities, towns and villages to waste and are edging forward along parts of the 1,000km front line across eastern and southern Ukraine. Moscow controls a fifth of Ukraine and claims ownership of more.
Ukrainian officials say a ceasefire would just give Russia time to prepare for further aggression.
However, the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency said on Feb 20 there could be a ceasefire in 2025, while casting doubt on its durability.
Ukrainians rally around leader
At the centre of Mr Trump’s charge that Mr Zelensky is a dictator is that Ukraine has not held elections because of martial law, which it declared when Russia unleashed its invasion
Martial law, which provides the authorities with emergency powers for the war effort, prohibits holding elections.
Mr Zelensky won office in 2019 and his mandate would have ended last May.
Mr Trump’s comments spurred some, though not all, of Ukraine’s opposition figures to rally around Mr Zelensky.
Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Mr Zelensky was Ukraine’s legitimate leader until someone else was elected, and that it was “impossible and immoral” to hold elections during the war, as the military would not be able to take part.
Mr Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the former army chief who is Ukraine’s ambassador to London and whose popularity makes him a possible presidential candidate, said winning the war with Russia to preserve Ukraine – and not elections – was the priority.
The most prominent opposition figure who has not pushed back on Mr Trump’s latest election call is Mr Petro Poroshenko, the former president whose relations with Mr Zelensky are acrimonious.
Mr Poroshenko previously opposed calls for wartime elections in the name of national unity but remained silent this time after the government imposed sanctions on him last week, something that he said was a blow to unity.
Ms Iryna Herashchenko, a lawmaker with Mr Poroshenko’s party, has been calling for a government of national unity and urged Mr Zelensky to stop what she called “political repression against those he does not like”.
Mr Serhii Prytula, who runs a major charity supporting the Ukrainian army and is another possible presidential hopeful, advised Ukrainians on X not to read Mr Trump’s comments before bed.
“Remember that here in Ukraine, only we – the people of Ukraine – determine who is a dictator and who is not.” REUTERS
