Trump is in disinformation bubble on Ukraine, says Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit back on Tuesday at Donald Trump's suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, saying the US president was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble.

Speaking ahead of talks with Trump's Ukraine envoy a day after Trump said Ukraine "should never have started" the conflict, Zelensky said he would like Trump's team to have "more truth" about Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader said Trump's assertion that his approval rating was just 4% was Russian disinformation and that any attempt to replace him would fail.

"We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. That is, President Trump ... unfortunately lives in this disinformation space," Zelensky told Ukrainian TV.

Less than a month into his presidency, Trump has upended US policy on Ukraine and Russia, ending Washington's bid to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine with a Trump-Putin phone call and talks between senior US and Russian officials.

Russia's sovereign wealth fund said it expected a number of US companies to return to Russia as early as the second quarter of 2025.

The talks, on ending the war in Ukraine, have excluded both Ukraine and Europe, which Trump says must step up to guarantee any ceasefire. Zelensky has suggested giving US companies the right to extract valuable minerals in Ukraine in return for US security guarantees but indicated Trump was not offering that.

Zelensky told a press conference the US had given Ukraine $67bn (R1.24-trillion) in weapons and $31.5bn (R584.65bn) in budget support, and that American demands for $500bn (R9.28-trillion) in minerals are "not a serious conversation", and that he could not sell his country.

He was expected to meet visiting US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, who said as he arrived in Kyiv that he expected substantial talks as the war approaches its three-year mark.

"We understand the need for security guarantees," Kellogg told journalists, saying that part of his mission would be "to sit and listen".

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov lauded Trump for saying that previous US support of Ukraine's bid to join the Nato military alliance was a major cause of the war in Ukraine.

Trump's US policy reversal puts it at odds with allies in the 27-member European Union, whose envoys on Wednesday agreed on a 16th package of sanctions against Russia, including on aluminium and vessels believed to be carrying sanctioned Russian oil.

France said it did not understand the logic of Trump's comments that Ukraine was to blame for Russia's invasion.

Reuters