Trump effectively blames Zelensky for Russian invasion of Ukraine

AFP Trump effectively blames Zelensky for Russian invasion of Ukraine Danny KEMP Wed., February 19, 2025 at 2:19 PM CET US President Donald Trump has effectively blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "You should never have started this," Trump said on Tuesday (local time). Zelensky had previously criticized him for not being involved in talks about Ukraine. Meanwhile, criticism of the US government was also expressed on Wednesday from Kyiv and Berlin, while words of praise for Trump came from Moscow. Trump made the statement after talks between the US and Russian foreign ministers and other high-ranking representatives on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia - the first such format since the start of the Russian war of aggression. Washington and Moscow agreed to negotiations in Riyadh to resolve their differences and quickly end the war in Ukraine. In addition to the Europeans, Ukraine was also not invited, which Zelensky criticized. "I am very disappointed," Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. He had heard that Kiev was outraged that it had "not been given a seat" at the talks table, Trump said when asked about the Ukrainian reaction. "Today I heard: 'Oh, we weren't invited.' Well, you've been there for three years (...) You should never have started this. You could have made a deal," he said, obviously addressing Zelensky. Trump also promised an imminent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He will "probably" meet with the Kremlin chief before the end of the month. After the talks in Riyadh, he is "very confident," said the right-wing populist. "Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the wild barbarism," he said. Regarding the prospects of a possible end to the war under his presidency, he said: "I believe that I have the power to end this war and I believe that it is going very well." Trump also spoke out "fully" in favor of European troops securing a possible peace in Ukraine. The USA was not asked to do this because it was "very far away." Meanwhile, Zelenskyj accused Trump's government of having freed Putin from isolation by acting over the heads of the Europeans and Ukrainians. "I believe the USA helped Putin to break out of years of isolation," Zelenskyj said on Wednesday. "None of this has had a positive effect on Ukraine." Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) also criticized the US government's actions. "The Americans made a mistake by taking Ukraine's NATO membership off the table," he told Deutschlandfunk. US statements on Ukrainian territorial cessions would also weaken the West's negotiating position from the outset. Furthermore, it is not acceptable for the USA to negotiate with Russia without involving European states, but at the same time to burden them with the burden of securing peace later on, Pistorius continued. Meanwhile, words of praise for Trump came from Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov welcomed the fact that Trump attributed the Ukraine war to earlier US support for Ukraine's accession to NATO. Trump is the first and so far only Western leader to have said publicly that "one of the root causes of the Ukraine situation was the persistent course of the previous (US) government to drag Ukraine into NATO," Lavrov said in the Russian parliament. The diplomatic rapprochement between the USA and Russia is causing fears in Ukraine that it could be marginalized in the negotiations about the future of its own country. The Europeans are also resisting being ignored.