Donald Trump has slammed Ukraine’s leadership for not thanking
him for his efforts to end the war with Russia.
The US President has accused Ukraine of having ‘zero gratitude’
in a post on his Truth Social profile.
He wrote: ‘UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR
OUR EFFORTS, AND EUROPE CONTINUES TO BUY OIL FROM RUSSIA.’
‘I INHERITED A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, A WAR THAT
IS A LOSER FOR EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THAT
HAVE SO NEEDLESSLY DIED.’
He repeated his accusation that Vladimir Putin seized his chance
to invade as ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden was in the White House.
It came as a widely leaked 28-point US-backed peace plan
acquiesces to many Russian demands that Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky has categorically rejected on dozens of
occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory.
It prompted fears it was entirely drafted by the Kremlin but
Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied the accusation saying it took
a month of negotiation.
He wrote on X: ‘The peace proposal was authored by the US. It is
offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations.
‘It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based
on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.’
Nevertheless, Trump says he wants Ukraine to accept the plan by
late next week.
Seemingly in response, Ukraine’s top security official, Rustem
Umerov said: ‘We appreciate our American partners working closely
with us to understand our concerns to reach this critical point and
we expect to make more progress today.’
Zelensky says there is now an understanding that the US-proposed
peace plan may take into account ‘a number of elements that are
based on the Ukrainian vision and are critical to Ukraine’s
national interests’.
He adds that further work is ongoing to ensure that ‘all
elements are truly effective in achieving the main goal – to
finally put an end to the bloodshed and war’.