By US correspondent James Matthews
In another place, in another place, “You were fired.”
When asked about Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump made it differently, but the feelings were the same.
Asked about the proposal that Russia wanted an election in Ukraine as part of the peace deal, the US president said, “I hate to say that, but he depends on 4% approval… They’re the table When I wanted a seat in the Ukrainians, have it been a long time since we voted? It’s coming from me and other countries.”
It was goodbye from one president to another. Farewell to the notion that Trump respects Zelensky as an equal player in peace negotiations.
And if it was a statement to anger the Ukrainian president, there was more.
This is how Trump put his boots in: “Today I heard, ‘Well, we weren’t invited.’
Have you ever started doing that? Ukraine?
In Kiev and the European capitals, they are already concerned that Vladimir Putin is the lead author of the peace agreement being pursued.
They’ll be worried that he’s writing the script for the President of the United States now.
Donald Trump has pulled a handbrake turn on his relationship with Russia, and the US is building a broader framework for resolutions in the Ukrainian conflict.
He is leaning towards progress in political and economic cooperation with Moscow, and in doing so it appears gradually in alignment with the hopes of his old enemy.
Where Donald Trump is heading, where he is taking him, it’s what it looks like to his allies.
