Team Trump wants to get rid of Volodymyr Zelensky

America’s president calls Ukraine’s president “a dictator”

FOR THREE years Ukraine has endured what was once unthinkable: an air and land assault on its capital; a bloody war of attrition; missiles; drones; glide bombs; summary executions. Now a new front has opened, this time, unexpectedly, from the West. Donald Trump’s brazen overtures towards Russia have publicly blindsided Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. And he has begun to show his anger. On Tuesday February 18th Mr Zelensky cancelled a long-planned trip to Saudi Arabia, saying he did not want to be associated with talks held there without him: “We were not invited…It was a surprise for us, I think for many others as well.” On February 19th Mr Trump responded by calling Mr Zelensky “a dictator”.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Three years on, the mood is glum”

From the February 22nd 2025 edition

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