in World News Trump warns Zelensky ‘won’t be around very long’ if he won’t ‘make a deal’ for peace with Russia
By Steven Nelson and Diana Glebova
President Trump said Monday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “won’t be around very long” if he won’t make a peace deal with Russia — deepening the rift between the men after a shouting match Friday in the Oval Office.
Trump amped up the pressure on Zelensky after the Ukrainian leader said Sunday that an end to his country’s war with Russia was “very, very far away.”
“Everybody has to get into a room, so to speak, and we have to make a deal, and the deal can be made very fast,” Trump said at the White House.
“Now, maybe somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long. That person will not be listened to very long. Because I believe that Russia wants to make a deal. I believe, certainly the people of Ukraine want to make a deal.”
Hours earlier, Trump trashed Zelensky on Truth Social for saying that the war won’t be over anytime soon.
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy [sic], and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump wrote.
“It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy [sic], stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. – Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?”
Zelensky scrambled Monday to clarify his downbeat assessment, tweeting that “[p]eace is needed as soon as possible” and that “[i]t is very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantive to end this war the soonest [sic] possible.”