Feb. 19 (UPI) — Vice President JD Vance cautioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky against making disparaging comments about President Donald Trump and warned that it would “backfire” on him.
Zelensky earlier accused Trump of existing within a Kremlin “disinformation space” while pursuing a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine and improve relations between the United States and Russia.
Trump on Tuesday accused Zelensky of starting the war with Russia and suggested he had a very low approval rating among Ukrainians despite recent polling showing it is near 60%.
Zelensky on Wednesday told reporters he respects Trump, the United States and the American people, but Trump “unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.”
Vance met with a Daily Mail reporter during an exclusive interview Wednesday inside the vice president’s office in the West Wing of the White House.
He suggested such comments by Zelensky were due to “bad advice” he received regarding how to deal with the Trump administration and suggested the Biden administration over the past three years told Zelensky he could do no wrong.
“The idea that Zelensky is going to change the president’s mind by badmouthing him in public media … everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration.”
Vance said Trump’s comments are not based on Russian disinformation and instead are borne from his knowledge and understanding of geopolitics.
Zelensky has criticized efforts by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war without including Ukrainian representatives.
Russia started the war by invading Ukraine in February 2022, but Trump in a Truth Social post on Wednesday said the “only thing” Zelensky was good at “was playing [President Joe] Biden like a fiddle.”
Trump called Zelensky a “moderately successful comedian” who “talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion … to go into a war that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a war that he, without the U.S. and ‘Trump,’ will never be able to settle.”
Trump said the United States spent $200 billion more than the European nations on Ukrainian defense without any expectation of the United States recouping its support of Ukraine. However, according to the Kiel Institute, Europe has become a larger supporter of Ukraine than the United States. Europe, as of end of december, as given Kyiv more than $260 billion compared to about $118 billion from the United States.
“On top of this, Zelensky admits that half of the money we sent him is ‘missing,'” Trump said. “He refuses to have election [and] is very low in Ukrainian polls.”
He called Zelensky a “dictator without election” and said the United States is successfully negotiating an end to the war.
Trump also said Biden never tried to broker a peace agreement to end the Ukraine war and Europe failed to bring about peace in the region.
“Zelensky probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going,” Trump said. “I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job, his country is shattered and millions have unnecessarily died.”