Axios: “We created a monster with Zelensky”

Pic.: Axios

Ukraine Zelensky angered Donald Trump so much during the peace talks with Russia that Trump was on the verge of withdrawing American military support from Ukraine, three U.S. officials familiar with the discussions tell Axios.

Why it matters: The conflict between Trump and Zelensky escalated into a war of words between the two that scared European allies …

"President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelensky," National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said at the White House press briefing.

The big picture: Trump and Zelensky have had an awkward relationship ever since Trump was impeached in 2019 for trying to leverage U.S. military aid to the war-torn country in return for Zelensky having Joe Biden's son investigated over his sinecure with a Ukrainian gas company.

Today, Trump is finding it more difficult than expected to make good on his pledge to quickly implement a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Zoom in: Six administration officials tell Axios that during the past nine days there were five incidents that angered Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Waltz. Taken together, one administration official said, Zelensky "showed how not to do the 'Art of the Deal' " when it came to courting Trump's support:

Feb. 12: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Zelensky in Kyiv to offer a proposal that would give the U.S. access to Ukrainian mineral rights in return for de facto U.S. protection. Trump later told reporters Zelensky was "rude" and delayed his meeting with Bessent because he slept in.

Feb. 14: At the Munich Security Conference, Vance and Rubio met Zelensky to get his approval for the mineral rights deal. But, the officials said, Zelensky surprised the Americans by saying he didn't have the authority to unilaterally approve it without parliament.

Feb. 15: Zelensky publicly rejected the offer at the conference. White House sources noted that his remarks to reporters — that the deal was "not in the interests of a sovereign Ukraine" — were markedly different from more positive-sounding comments he'd made the day before.

Feb. 18: As Rubio, Waltz and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff sat down with Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia to talk peace, Zelensky criticized the meeting for occurring without Ukraine at the table. An angry Trump then lashed out at Zelensky at a Mar-a-Lago press conference, falsely suggesting Zelensky had started the war with Russia and had an approval rating of only 4%.

Feb. 19: Zelensky fired back, saying the U.S. president "lives in a disinformation space." Trump then ratcheted up the pressure by posting on Truth Social that Zelensky, a former actor, was a "modestly successful comedian" who has become a "dictator without elections." Trump has refused to criticize Putin as a dictator.

What they're saying: Vance told the conservative media outlet The National Pulse on Wednesday that Zelensky should've aired his complaints "in a private discussion with American diplomats… he's attacking the only reason [Ukraine] exists, publicly, right now. And it's disgraceful. And it's not something that is going to move the president of the United States. In fact, it's going to have the opposite effect."

Three administration sources say Vance's comment about Trump's state of mind was a not-so-veiled threat to walk away from Ukraine.

In the White House's view, Zelensky grew too accustomed to former President Biden's open-ended support for Ukraine's war effort, the full-throated backing of NATO countries and the positive press that went with it. So he overstepped.

"Zelensky is an actor who committed a common mistake of theater kids: he started to think he's the character he plays on TV," a White House official involved in the talks said. "Yes, he has been brave and stood up to Russia. But he would be six feet under if it wasn't for the millions we spent, and he needs to exit stage right with all the drama."

"We created a monster with Zelensky," another official involved in the negotiations said. "And these Trump-deranged Europeans who won't send troops are giving him terrible advice."

"In the course of a week, Zelensky rebuffed President Trump's treasury secretary, his secretary of state and his vice president, all before moving on to personally insulting President Trump in the press," another administration official said.

"What did Zelensky think was going to happen?"

What's next: Despite the mistrust and anger, Trump's team has continued negotiating with Zelensky and a new mineral-rights deal that would be part of a peace agreement is in the offing.

Reality check: The deal Trump appears to be negotiating could be highly controversial. Based on their public and private statements, Trump's team is expected to pressure Zelensky into giving up Crimea (which Putin seized in 2014) portions of eastern Ukraine and the Azov Coast (occupied in Russia's 2022 invasion).

The U.S. insistence on claiming a share of Ukraine's mineral rights has been compared to a "mafia shakedown" by liberal critics, who point out that the country would lose land and mineral rights and get little in return.

"It's a sh*t sandwich," a Trump administration official acknowledged.

"But Ukraine is going to have to eat it because [Trump] has made clear this is no longer our problem."

Zelensky
Photo: AP

President Donald Trump said there was no need for Zelensky to take part in talks on ending the conflict with Russia, keeping up his attacks on the Ukrainian leader.

Trump told Fox News Radio that Zelensky had been in meetings for three years since Russia’s invasion in February, 2022 and so far had failed to end the conflict, Bloomberg quotes.

“I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you,” Trump said. “When Zelensky said, oh, he wasn’t invited to a meeting, I mean, it wasn’t a priority because he did such a bad job in negotiating so far.”

The comments signaled that Trump will press ahead with his approach of negotiating directly with Russia with or without Ukraine. He spoke with President Vladimir Putin last week, and senior US officials met with Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia earlier this week. No Ukrainians were present.

The comments further upend President Joe Biden’s approach to the conflict, which centered on the idea of “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.” Trump reiterated his belief that Biden and Zelensky could have prevented the war from happening.

“Every time I say, ‘Oh it’s not Russia’s fault,’ I always get slammed by the fake news, but I’m telling you, Biden said the wrong things, Zelensky said the wrong things, they got attacked by somebody that’s much bigger and much stronger,” Trump said. “But Russia could have been talked out of that so easily.”

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