‘President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelensky, the fact that he hasn’t come to the table,’ said Waltz.
By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR
Donald Trump‘s envoy heaped praise on a ‘courageous’ Volodymyr Zelensky in an apparent stunning U-turn just hours after the U.S. president branded him a ‘dictator’.
Keith Kellogg, a retired Army Lieutenant General, issued the comments following a meeting with Zelensky in Kyiv days after U.S. negotiators sat down with top Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.
He posted on X: ‘A long and intense day with the senior leadership of Ukraine. Extensive and positive discussions with Zelensky, the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war and his talented national security team.’
Trump’s envoy also reposted Zelensky’s own positive analysis of their meeting, which the Ukrainian leader said had ‘restored hope’.
It came after the White House had told Zelensky to stop his ‘insulting’ criticism of President Trump.
Trump had previously stunned world leaders by tearing into Zelensky and even appeared to blame him for Russia ‘s 2022 invasion of his country.
The White House continues to apply pressure for Ukraine to sign a pact that would hand the U.S. joint access to its mineral resources to pay for past military aid.
The initial proposal was valued at $500 billion, which analysts noted surpassed the burden placed on Germany after World War I.
Zelensky had complained about being left out of the two-way negotiations between the U.S. and Russia, which resulted in statements from them about potential collaboration on oil and gas products.
Amid the fallout Trump blamed Zelensky for starting the war, which began with a lightning assault from Russian armored columns.
‘You have leadership now that’s allowed a war to go on that should have never even happened, even without the United States,’ Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida Tuesday.
‘You (Zelensky) should have ended it – three years, you should have never started it,’ Trump said.
That posture was an extraordinary departure from three years of sanctions, diplomatic pressure and isolation of Russia that the U.S. and European allies applied even while shipping billions in military aid to support Ukraine’s fight.