Russian officials heaped praise on President Trump after he bashed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” — lauding the commander in chief for understanding Moscow’s position as its three-year-old all-out war rages on.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, was among those to publicly praise Trump after the US president warned Zelensky on Wednesday that he “better move fast” to negotiate an end to Russia war or risk not having a nation to lead.
“If you’d told me just three months ago that these were the words of the U.S. president, I would have laughed out loud,” Medvedev wrote on X in the wake of Trump’s anti-Ukraine rant. “@realDonaldTrump is 200 percent right. Bankrupt clown …”
Meanwhile, foreign minister Sergey Lavrov stopped short of referencing the attack on Zelensky but applauded Trump for saying previous American support of Ukraine’s bid to join the NATO military alliance was a major cause of the war.
“He is the first, and so far, in my opinion, the only Western leader who has publicly and loudly said that one of the root causes of the Ukrainian situation was the impudent line of the previous administration to draw Ukraine into NATO,” Lavrov said.
“No Western leaders had ever said that, but he had said it several times. This is already a signal that he understands our position.”
The Trump-praising rhetoric comes amid an escalating back-and-forth between the two presidents — as well as rising tensions between Washington and much of Europe — over Trump’s approach to settling the all-out war.
Trump, who is trying to bring the fighting to a close on terms that Kyiv says are too favorable to Moscow, had lashed out at Zelensky, writing on Truth Social that the Ukrainian leader was a “dictator without elections.”
“In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do,” he wrote in a lengthy Truth Social rant, referencing Ukraine suspending elections last year due to the war.
“Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going. I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…..”
The attacks came after Zelensky accused the US prez of living in a Russian-made “disinformation space” after Trump had claimed to reporters a day prior that Ukraine “started” the war.
“We are standing strong on our own two feet. I am counting on Ukrainian unity, our courage … on the unity of Europe and the pragmatism of America,” Zelensky said in his daily video address late Wednesday.
“Because America needs success just as much as we do.”
With Post wires
