US envoy to Ukraine hails Zelenskyy as ‘embattled and courageous leader’ | Ukraine

The US envoy to Ukraine, Gen Keith Kellogg, has praised Voldymyr Zelenskyy as “the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war”, striking a dramatically different tone from Donald Trump who has called Ukraine’s president a “dictator”.

Kellogg left Kyiv on Friday after a three-day visit. Posting on social media, he said he had had “extensive and positive discussions” with Zelenskyy and his “talented national security team”. “A long and intense day with the senior leadership of Ukraine,” he said.

The general’s upbeat remarks are in glaring contrast to those of the US president and his entourage, who have heaped abuse on Zelenskyy during a tumultuous week. Trump claimed Ukraine was to blame for starting the war with Russia, and accused Zelenskyy of doing “a terrible job”.

On Friday, Trump returned to the theme, saying he did not consider it essential for the Ukrainian president to be present at negotiations. “I don’t think he’s very important to be in meetings,” Trump told Fox News. “He’s been there for three years. He makes it very hard to make deals.”

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who is leading Trump’s huge governmental overhaul, said Trump was right to leave Zelenskyy out of peace talks with Russia, held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Without evidence, Musk accused Ukraine’s leader of running a “massive graft machine feeding off the dead bodies of Ukrainian soldiers”.

Kellogg is known to be the most pro-Ukrainian of Trump’s senior team. Nevertheless, the difference in rhetoric suggests a chaotic and contradictory approach to foreign policy, from a White House that has dumped Ukraine as an ally and publicly sided with Moscow.

Zelenskyy prompted Trump’s ire by observing that the US president lived in a Kremlin “disinformation bubble”. Despite their disagreement, there were signs on Friday that US and Ukrainian negotiators are coming closer to making a deal over Ukraine’s vast mineral resources.

Late last year, Zelenskyy floated the idea of a partnership with the US. He was surprised when the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, asked him to sign an agreement that would give the White House $500bn (£395bn) in natural resources, as “payback” for previous US military assistance.

Zelenskyy declined to sign the document without US security guarantees, to enforce any postwar settlement with Russia. There were reports on Friday that talks over US preferential access to Ukraine’s critical resources were ongoing, with drafts being constantly swapped.

“We sent another one yesterday,” one Kyiv source told the AFP news agency, adding that Ukraine was now waiting for a US response. On Friday, the White House national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said he expected the Ukrainian government “in a very short time” to sign the “rare earth” deal.

Trump’s crude verbal criticism of Ukraine and his repetition of Russian talking points have stunned and alarmed European leaders. Nearly a dozen of them have called Zelenskyy over the last 48 hours, offering support for a just and sustainable end to the war, and reaffirming shared democratic values.

They include Keir Starmer and France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, both of whom will visit Washington next week. In an address to France, Macron said he would tell Trump: “You can’t be weak with [Vladimir] Putin.” Poland’s conservative president, Andrzej Duda, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Saturday, said Zelenskyy should stay calm and cooperate.

Several senior Europeans will visit Kyiv on Monday, to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez; the European Council president, António Costa; and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, are expected.

The US president’s rambling personal attacks have galvanised support for Zelenskyy among Ukrainians, including people who were previously disenchanted. A new opinion poll found 63% approved of him – a figure many times higher than the 4% rating falsely claimed this week by Trump and Musk.

Prominent Ukrainian journalist Kristina Berdynskykh said: “After three years of full-scale war, Ukrainians are tired, nervous and often quarrel with each other. But I feel that now everyone will unite again. This always happens when Ukrainians feel an existential threat.”

Trump has echoed Kremlin propaganda by claiming Zelenskyy refuses to hold elections and is therefore illegitimate. Under martial law, elections are not allowed. Few Ukrainians support the idea of a poll, at a time when millions have fled abroad, a fifth of the country is occupied by Russia, and while soldiers are fighting and dying on the frontline.

On Friday more than 130 Ukrainian civil society organisations said Russia’s war of aggression made it impossible for Ukraine to hold elections – both for the presidency and parliament. In a statement pushing back on Trump’s remarks, they said that government legitimacy was “the exclusive prerogative of the Ukrainian people”.

The NGOs said there was a consensus among both ruling and opposition political parties, as well as from the general public, that polls could only be held at least six months after a genuine ceasefire. This would give authorities time to prepare the electoral process, and to rebuild damaged infrastructure, they said.