“Doing a terrible job”: Trump criticized Zelensky again

U.S. President Donald Trump devoted several minutes of his speech at a business conference in Miami to Ukraine, reiterating his previous criticisms of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In his speech, Trump once again referred to Zelensky as a “dictator without elections” and repeated many of the statements from his recent social media post. Here is the full transcript of his remarks:

“But think about it: a modestly successful comedian, President Zelensky, convinced the United States to spend $350 billion on a war that could never be won, a war that should never have started and never would have started if I had been president. Not a chance. It didn’t start for four years and never would have started. But it’s a war that he will never be able to end without the U.S. and Trump. They will never end this war without our involvement.

“That’s why they worked so well this weekend. That’s why Saudi Arabia did such a great job organizing. The U.S. has spent $200 billion more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed—they get it back. It’s a kind of loan. Nobody knows this. But I know. I said: why is no one talking about the fact that we should be doing the same? And we’re spending far more money. We need to level the playing field.

“While the U.S. gets nothing in return, Europe gets its money back. It’s a loan. But we just give money away. We had a deal based on rare earth minerals and other things, but they broke that deal. They broke it two days ago. We made an agreement because we said: ‘We’re spending $350 billion, and Europe is getting its money back as a loan, while we’re not.’ We’re just handing out money left and right. That’s how the Biden administration operates. But now, they are no longer dealing with the same United States as they were a few months ago.

“Why hasn’t corrupt Joe Biden demanded equal conditions? This war is far more important for Europe than for us, and between us is a huge, beautiful ocean. We are helping Europe, we are trying to help Europe. Moreover, Zelensky admits that half of the money we sent them is missing. They don’t know where the money is. He said, ‘Well, we don’t know where half of it went.’ Great. Wonderful.

“He refuses to hold elections. His approval rating in real Ukrainian polls is low. Well, how can you be popular when every city is being destroyed? It’s hard to be popular. Someone said, ‘Oh no, his ratings are good.’ Come on. Every city looks like a demolition site.

“The only thing he is really good at is manipulating Joe Biden like a puppet. He played him like a violin. That’s an expression we use to mean that someone is easily influenced. A dictator without elections. Zelensky better hurry up, or he won’t have a country left. He needs to move fast because this war is heading in the wrong direction.

“Meanwhile, we are successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia. And I admit that only Trump can do it. We can do it in the Trump administration. I think even Putin admitted it. Biden never even tried. Europe failed to bring peace. And Zelensky, perhaps, wants this ‘gravy train’ to continue. I don’t know what the problem is. But he failed to end the war.

“He was very upset that he wasn’t invited. He could have come if he wanted to, but he wasn’t invited to Saudi Arabia. But for three years, there have been no meetings, no calls to stop this war. It’s terrible. I think Russia has lost 900,000 soldiers. I think Ukraine has lost probably 700,000. And it’s horrible. You see body parts, bodies, and limbs all over the battlefield. We see them very clearly through satellites.

“I love Ukraine, but Zelensky is doing a terrible job. His country is destroyed. Millions of people have died completely in vain. And you cannot end a war without talking to both sides. You need to talk. They haven’t talked for three years. We hope to see a ceasefire soon and restore stability in Europe and the Middle East.”

Additionally, Trump warned that World War III could have happened within a year if the Democratic Party had remained in power:

“No one would benefit from World War III, and we were not that far from it, I tell you. If that administration had stayed in power for another year, there would have been a world war. Now, that won’t happen. We will end wars,” Trump declared.

This is not the first time Trump has referred to Zelensky as a “dictator without elections.” His latest remarks come after recent negotiations in Riyadh, where U.S. and Russian delegations met, and after his strong criticism of Zelensky in his Truth Social post.