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Ukraine's Zelensky bats for ‘strong ties’ after US envoy meet amid tensions with Donald Trump
While he did make the statement, a news conference that was planned to follow talks between him and US President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy was cancelled
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukraine was ready to work quickly and tirelessly to produce a strong and useful agreement on investments and security with the United States.
The statement comes amid rising tensions between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, with the two trading barbs on Wednesday.
"We must and can ensure that peace is strong and lasting—so that Russia can never return with war," Zelensky wrote on X on Thursday after meeting US envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg.
"Ukraine is ready for a strong, effective investment and security agreement with the President of the United States. We have proposed the fastest and most constructive way to achieve results. Our team is ready to work 24/7," he added.
While the Ukrainian leader did make the statement, a news conference that was planned to follow talks between him and US President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy was cancelled 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 US Lt. General Keith Kellogg, but it was changed at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity where the two posed for journalists.
They did not deliver statements or field questions as expected. The change was requested by the US side, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhii Nikiforov said.
Tensions between Ukraine and the US
Keith Kellogg's trip to Kyiv coincided with recent feuding between Trump and Zelensky that has bruised their personal relations and cast further doubt on the future of US support for Ukraine's war effort.
The spat erupted after Russia and the US agreed Tuesday to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. With that, Trump abruptly reversed the three-year US policy of isolating Russia.
Zelensky was unhappy that a US team opened the talks without inviting him or European governments that have backed Kyiv.
When Trump claimed Zelenskyy 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 percent — 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.
