European Leaders Defend Zelensky After Trump’s ‘Dictator’ Jibe
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Donald Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Wednesday to attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Responding to the Ukrainian leader’s critique that he is living in a Moscow-manufactured ‘disinformation bubble’, the US President branded Zelensky ‘a dictator without elections’. In doing so, Trump failed to recognise the constitutional prohibition of elections in Ukraine under martial law - without it, Zelensky’s term would have been due to end in May 2024. Zelensky’s defiance has not wavered in the face of Trump’s comments. The Ukrainian leader further asserted that he is ‘the legally elected president’ in a press conference in Kyiv on Sunday.
The incendiary nature of Trump’s accusations has resulted in pronounced disapproval and defences from multiple European leaders. Then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated ‘It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelensky his democratic legitimacy’. Scholz’s successor, Friedrich Merz, has held a similar position on the matter, telling German broadcasters ARD that Trump’s post expressed ‘a classic reversal of the role of perpetrator and victim.’
A Downing Street spokesperson stated that Prime Minister Keir Starmer phone-called Zelensky as a mark of UK support following Trump’s comments. Starmer identified Zelensky as ‘Ukraine's democratically elected leader’, and stated that it is ‘perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime as the UK did during World War II’. The Prime Minister is due to visit Washington D.C this week to negotiate a peace deal. Starmer is expected to encourage US security guarantees for Ukraine.
The leaders’ war of words follows Ukraine and Europe’s lack of invitation to the US-orchestrated peace negotiations which Russia held in Saudi Arabia last Tuesday. The legitimacy of such diplomatic discussions has since been questioned, with the importance of Ukraine’s inclusion in the talks being further outlined by Zelensky and European leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron.