By Guardian-Pjotr Sauer/Luke Harding in Kyiv-Wed 19 Feb 2025

Remarks follow US claims that Ukraine is to blame for Russian invasion. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Donald Trump is “trapped” in a Russian “disinformation bubble”, escalating tensions between Kyiv and Washington after the US president suggested Ukraine was to blame for Moscow’s invasion of the country.

“Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect for him as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly … is trapped in this disinformation bubble,” Zelenskyy said in a combative press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

In a series of inflammatory remarks on Tuesday evening, Trump had criticised Zelenskyy, saying he was “disappointed” that the Ukrainian leader complained about being left out of talks between the US and Russia over ending the Ukraine war.

Trump also appeared to blame Zelenskyy for Moscow’s full-scale invasion and questioned his legitimacy, claiming the president of Ukraine had a 4% approval rating, and calling for a new election.

“As we are talking about 4%, we have seen this disinformation, we understand it’s coming from Russia,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Trump’s speech.

Zelenskyy said that he “never comments on popularity ratings, especially my own or other leaders,” but added that the latest poll showed a majority of Ukrainians trust him. He added that any attempt to replace him during the war would fail.

While Zelenskyy’s popularity has declined in recent months, a February poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found that 57% of Ukrainians trusted him, up from 52% a month earlier.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the head of Ukraine’s digital affairs ministry, argued on Wednesday that Zelenskyy’s ratings were “4-5%” higher than Trump’s.

Ukrainian legislation bans elections during martial law, which has been in place since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. Few Ukrainians support the idea of a poll, at a time when Russia’s invasion has forced millions to flee abroad, and when Ukrainian soldiers are fighting and dying on the frontline.

Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, said Ukraine was not “giving up” on elections. “Inventing ‘democracy’ under shelling is not democracy, but a spectacle in which the main beneficiary is in the Kremlin. Ukraine needs bullets, not ballots,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

On Tuesday, Russian and US officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss improving economic and political cooperation, signalling a fundamental shift in Washington’s approach to Moscow.

Zelenskyy also rejected Trump’s comments that most of Ukraine’s support comes from the US. Trump claimed that the US had provided Ukraine with around $350bn (£280bn) in aid and suggested, without evidence, that some of it had been misappropriated.

“The truth is somewhere else,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he remained “grateful for the support” and wants “the Trump team to have true facts”. He then said that the US supplied $67bn in weapons and $31.5bn in budget support.

Discussing a Trump-led initiative to corner his country’s critical minerals as a downpayment for continued military and economic aid, Zelenskyy said that he could not “sell Ukraine away”. But he said he was prepared to work “on a serious document” if it contained “security guarantees”.

“OK, let’s do a deal,” he said. “Let’s share [it], depending on the investment … but we need security guarantees.”

The US had proposed taking ownership of 50% of Ukraine’s critical minerals, but the proposal appeared to lack any security guarantees, such as the deployment of US troops in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy’s team has placed high importance on the need for guarantees from the US that would deter Russia from launching a new invasion once a peace deal is reached.

“I am protecting Ukraine. I can’t sell it away. I can’t sell our state,” Zelenskyy said.

On Wednesday, Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, arrived in Kyiv ofor talks with Ukrainian leaders. He is viewed as Trump’s most pro-Ukraine adviser, albeit one with declining influence. He said he was planning for a “good, substantial talk” with Zelenskyy.

“We understand the need for security guarantees,” Kellogg told journalists, saying that part of his mission would be “to sit and listen”.

Zelenskyy’s remarks also included a challenge to Kellogg to “go and talk to ordinary Ukrainians about their reception of Trump’s comments”.

Moscow offered praise for Trump on Wednesday. Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who was part of the delegation in Saudi Arabia, hailed Trump for criticising “pathetic” Zelenskyy and welcomed Trump’s claim that past US support for Ukraine’s Nato ambitions was a key factor in sparking 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.”

Russian officials also seized on Trump’s latest remarks that questioned Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as Ukraine’s president. Pyotr Tolstoy, a senior member of Russia’s State Duma, called Trump’s remarks “significant” and suggested they would be “of great interest to those who call themselves politicians in Kyiv”.

Russia will be counting on Trump’s remarks to sow discord among Kyiv’s political elites and society at large, potentially weakening Ukraine’s ability to resist Russian forces.

But Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine was “much stronger than at the beginning of the invasion” and more self-sufficient, producing “30% of everything we need”.

He said: “This guarantees our ability to speak with dignity, as equals, with partners, with allies or not.”

Zelenskyy said he was in talks with European allies about funding the Ukrainian army, suggesting that Ukraine was prepared to continue fighting even without US aid.

European leaders are expected to meet on Wednesday for a second emergency summit hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron to forge a cohesive response to Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine.

The Northern states of Ukraine who were pro-Russians and speaking russian were attacked militarily by Zelensky`s Nazi Brigade several times and pleaded with Putin for help. As Zelensky would not stop Putin had no other choice but to attack, trying still to negotiate for ceasefire, but to no avail. This is in short what really happened. Here is the FULL REPORT.