February's "heat": Why Trump lashed out at Zelensky and the reasons behind it.

The extremely harsh remarks of the 78-year-old U.S. President Trump towards his Ukrainian counterpart began with his comments regarding the outcomes of the U.S.-Russia meeting in Riyadh. The old-new head of the White House, describing them as "very good," expressed his willingness to meet with Putin by the end of February. At the same time, Trump made another eloquent gesture towards the aggressor country, deliberately undermining the obvious case regarding the "Russian threat" to the Old World. According to him, the Russian delegation at the meeting in Riyadh did not demand the withdrawal of American troops from Europe. "No one asked me for that. I wouldn’t want to take such a step, but this topic was not raised by anyone," he stated.

Expressing increased confidence that the "Ukrainian conflict" could be resolved peacefully, Donald Trump directed his main criticism at President Volodymyr Zelensky. Specifically, during his press conference at the Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the current occupant of the Oval Office openly indicated for the first time that he does not see Zelensky as a leader and partner for the U.S., effectively demanding that presidential elections be held in Ukraine as soon as possible. In general, Trump's undisguised irritation, bordering on active rejection, was evident in many of his statements about Zelensky.

“You know, they are upset that they don't have a seat at the negotiating table (in Riyadh – ed). They had a seat for three years. Long before that, everything could have been resolved very easily. A deal could have been made that would have preserved almost all of Ukraine's territory, without destruction, without loss of life, and without destroyed cities. Even a half-prepared negotiator could have settled this many years ago,” Mr. Trump claimed, distorting reality and the possibilities dictated by it. He expressed confidence that Russia is capable of "very quickly" destroying Ukrainian cities completely, including Kyiv, but does not want to do so. Well, of course, it doesn't want to, demonstrating a gesture of goodwill, sure, of course.

But there's more. Trump began actively pushing his favorite topic – money: “Where did all the money transferred from the U.S. to Ukraine go, where is it being sent? I've never seen anyone calculate this. I think we transferred $350 billion. Let's say, a bit less. But it's still a lot.” According to Trump, “Zelensky said a week ago that he doesn’t know where half of the funds allocated by the U.S. went.” Commenting on this nonsense is frankly pointless – we will only provide the dry facts. Thus, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which continuously tracks the volume of aid to Ukraine and publishes the Ukraine Support Tracker report, since the beginning of the full-scale war and as of February 19, 2025, total U.S. aid amounted to €114.2 billion.

However, let’s return to Trump, or rather to his absurd accusations against the official Kyiv. In unison with the Kremlin dictator Putin, Trump openly stated that he wants to see a different leader at the helm of Ukraine, who would be elected in new presidential elections: “We are dealing with a situation where there have been no elections in Ukraine, where there is martial law. Where is the leader in Ukraine? I mean, I hate to say this, but his (Zelensky's – ed.) approval rating has dropped to 4%. The country is torn apart, most cities are destroyed. It looks like a massive demolition site. I believe it is necessary to hold elections in Ukraine as part of resolving the conflict with Russia. This does not come from Russia, but from us and other parties. If you want to be at the negotiating table, you can imagine how the people of Ukraine say: ‘It’s been a long time since we had elections.’

The people of Ukraine, and even that part of it that, to put it mildly, does not sympathize with Zelensky, have literally torn Trump apart on social media (and not without reason). If someone had given the American president even a brief analysis of the Ukrainian segment of Facebook, his ears, cheeks, and other body parts would have burned with shame, blending with the color of his favorite red cap with the slogan “Make America great again.” By the way, regarding how he portrays America and what leading world media focus on, we will discuss that a bit later. For now, let’s briefly explain why Trump’s statement about elections triggered a volcano of negative emotions from Ukrainians. Even setting aside the fact that the mentioned rating of Zelensky does not correspond to reality (recent data from KMIS indicates 57% trust), the key point is that Ukrainian society and the nation as a whole have a backbone. And when someone from outside tries to barge in with their rules into Ukraine's political garden, they instantly get hit with whatever people have at hand.

By the way, the new batch of statements from the head of the White House caused another shock among the European allies of the U.S. The position of French President Emmanuel Macron was announced by the official representative of the government, Sophie Prima. “President Trump day by day makes statements, all of which are extremely voluntaristic and clearly made without coordination with European countries. Trump's statements regarding Ukraine and Zelensky follow the same line, and this cannot but cause outrage,” Ms. Prima stated, adding that the EU “still expects consistency and balance” in the statements of the American leader. German Chancellor Scholz, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (who, by the way, is on good terms with the current U.S. president), and many others directly called on Trump to “calm down” in his attacks on his Ukrainian counterpart.

President Volodymyr Zelensky himself continues to clash with the occupant of the Oval Office, refuting virtually every one of his theses. In particular, Zelensky deemed the demand for Ukraine to return the funds spent on it by the U.S. government to be absolutely inappropriate. According to him, the head of the White House pulls his numbers out of thin air: “We need to sort out this aid; we have completely different figures from the U.S. The war cost us $320 billion. Ukraine spent $120 billion, and the U.S. and EU spent $200 billion, which is the weapons package. In total, the U.S. has given us over $67 billion in weapons and $31.5 billion in direct budget aid. So, the conversation about us needing to return $500 billion is an unserious conversation.”

Zelensky also made it clear that he is not satisfied with Trump’s proposal regarding rare earth metals: “There were no security guarantees in this project. Therefore, without security guarantees, it will not be fair. I said: ‘This document is not ready; we will not sign it.’ I am always open to you investing in our country, investing in our natural resources. I am sure our society supports this, our parliament supports this. But if we want to give something, we must get something in return.”

Returning to the rendezvous in Riyadh, Zelensky stated that this meeting helped Trump assist Putin in escaping diplomatic isolation. Zelensky specifically emphasized that the negotiations do not “irritate” Kyiv and that they are “ready for anything,” although there is nothing positive for Ukraine in them. However, the Russians, in the opinion of the current guarantor of the Ukrainian Constitution, are “very pleased.” Finally, the current occupant of Bankova entered into a verbal skirmish with Trump regarding his popularity, expressing the opinion that the U.S. president simply does not have a grasp on the situation. Citing fresh sociology, Zelensky stated: “If someone wants to replace me right now, it won’t happen right now.”

Considering the significant time difference, Trump joined the verbal duel closer to the evening of Wednesday, February 19, while Zelensky sent his “hello” across the ocean earlier that morning. Judging by Trump’s reaction, he is guided solely by emotions, rather than a basic analysis or, at the very least, common sense.

In general, the U.S. president released another statement, calling the Ukrainian president a “dictator without elections” and urging for voting to take place as soon as possible: “Just think: modestly successful comedian Volodymyr Zelensky convinced the United States of America to spend $350 billion on a war that could not be won, that should never have started, but which he cannot resolve without the U.S. and Trump. The U.S. spent $200 billion more than Europe, while European money is guaranteed, and the U.S. will get nothing in return. Why hasn’t sleepy Joe Biden called for equalization, since this war is much more important for Europe than for us – we have a big, beautiful ocean separating us. Furthermore, Zelensky admits that half of the money we sent him has “disappeared.” He refuses to hold elections; his ratings in Ukrainian polls are very low, and the only thing he has succeeded in is "playing" on Biden like a violin. Dictator without elections, Zelensky better hurry up, or he will have no country left. Meanwhile, we are successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia – something that everyone believes can only be done by Trump and the Trump administration. Biden hasn’t even tried; Europe couldn’t bring peace, and Zelensky probably wants the financial flow to continue. I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job; his country is devastated, and millions have died in vain – and it’s all ongoing…”

For the sake of objectivity, it should be noted