KYIV, Ukraine — A news conference that was planned to follow talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Trump’s Ukraine envoy was canceled Thursday as political tensions deepened between the two countries over how to end the almost three-year war with Russia.
The event was originally supposed to include comments to the media by Zelensky and retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, but it was changed at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity where the two posed for journalists.
Kellogg’s trip to Kyiv coincided with recent barbs between Trump and Zelensky that have cast further doubt on the future of U.S. support for Ukraine’s war effort.
Dozens of journalists gathered at Ukraine’s presidential office in Kyiv after being invited for the news conference. As the meeting began, photographers and video journalists were allowed into a room where the two men shook hands before sitting across from each other at a table.
Journalists were then informed that there would be no news conference.
Kellogg, one of the architects of a policy book laying out an “America First” national security agenda, has long been Trump’s top advisor on defense issues.
Zelensky had previously said he looked forward to explaining what was happening in Ukraine and showing it to Kellogg. Writing on his Telegram channel, Zelensky said the meeting was a “good conversation, lots of details.” He said they discussed security guarantees for Ukraine and the return of Ukrainian prisoners from Russian custody.
“We can and must make peace reliable and lasting so that Russia can never return with war again,” he wrote. “Ukraine is ready for a strong, truly beneficial agreement with the President of the United States on investments and security.”
The U.S. this week started working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving diplomatic and economic ties with Russia — reversing a three-year U.S. policy of isolating Moscow. Zelensky was unhappy that a U.S. team opened the talks without inviting him or European governments that have backed Kyiv.
When Trump claimed Zelensky was deeply unpopular in Ukraine, the president said Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space,” suggesting he had been duped by Putin.
But Zelensky “retains a fairly high level of public trust” — about 57% — according to a report released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
Trump accused Zelensky of being “A Dictator without Elections!!” Due to the war, Ukraine did delay elections that were scheduled for April 2024.
Trump also suggested that Ukraine was to blame for the war.
Russia’s army crossed the border Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
White House national security advisor Michael Waltz noted that Trump is frustrated that Zelensky rejected an offer that would have given the U.S. access to Ukrainian minerals as repayment for U.S. support during the war and future aid for Ukraine.
“There needs to be a deep appreciation for what the American people and the American taxpayer, what President Trump did in his first term and what we’ve done since,” Waltz said. “There’s some of the rhetoric coming out of Kyiv, frankly, and insults to President Trump [that] were unacceptable.”
On Wednesday, Trump warned Zelensky that he “better move fast” to negotiate or risk not having a nation to lead. European leaders quickly threw their support behind Zelensky. Russian officials, meanwhile, are basking in Washington’s attention.
Amid the diplomatic clamor, Ukrainian civilians continue to endure Russian strikes. Russia fired 161 Shahed and decoy drones and up to 14 missiles of various types at Ukraine overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, according to military authorities.
A Russian glide bomb struck an apartment block in the southern city of Kherson, killing one person and wounding six, including 14-year-old twins, authorities said. The southern port city of Odesa also came under a Russian drone attack for the second consecutive night, leaving almost 50,000 homes without electricity in freezing winter temperatures, officials said.
Spike writes for the Associated Press.