U.S. President Donald Trump's statements about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "exceeded" moscow's expectations and surprised even the leadership of the aggressor country, russia, with their sharpness.
Bloomberg reported this on Thursday, February 20, citing an informed source.
According to the publication, russian officials are wary of Trump, as they do not understand his negotiating position and suspect traps and unexpected turns of events. However, European leaders and even the russian federation were surprised by the sharp comments of the American President about Zelenskyy.
"Even the Kremlin was caught by surprise over the harsh tone of Trump’s comments, which President Vladimir Putin hadn’t himself adopted. The criticism exceeded any expectations in Moscow that the US view of the war could be turned to Russia’s advantage, according to a person with knowledge of the situation," writes Bloomberg, citing a source familiar with the situation.
The russian side will try to use this chance to get the maximum possible benefit from any agreement to end the war. Trump’s comments against Zelenskyy “elicited an immediate and sharp reaction from European leaders”, and they assured Kyiv of continued assistance and support. On February 19, the U.S. President supported the kremlin's narrative, calling the Ukrainian President a "dictator".
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on February 19, U.S. President Donald Trump said that elections should be held in Ukraine, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly has a low trust rating of 4%.
On February 20, Congressman Don Bacon (Republican Party) said that Trump "made a mistake" by calling President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "a dictator without elections".
Also on February 20, the official representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) Antonio Guterres, Stéphane Dujarric, said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would take office after elections that were properly held.
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