The White House has pushed back against former President Donald Trump’s latest remarks on Ukraine, following a heated exchange of words with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A White House official stated that Trump’s recent post on Truth Social was a direct response to Zelensky’s claim that the former U.S. leader was influenced by “disinformation.”

The verbal clash began on Tuesday when Trump, speaking at a news conference at Mar-A-Lago, blamed Ukraine for the ongoing war with Russia. When asked by BBC News about Ukrainians who might feel betrayed by his stance, Trump dismissed their concerns, stating, “I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat, well, they’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily.”

“You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” Trump added, omitting any mention of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022.

In response, Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday that “a lot of disinformation” was circulating, mainly originating from Russia. He added, “With all due respect to President Donald Trump as a leader… he is living in this disinformation space.” Zelensky further alleged that the U.S. had enabled Putin to break out of years of international isolation.

The Ukrainian president also rejected Trump’s attempts to gain access to Ukraine’s rare minerals, asserting that no security guarantees had been offered in exchange.

Trump escalated the confrontation with an explosive post on Truth Social, taking aim at Europe’s role in the conflict. “The war in Ukraine is far more important to Europe than it is to us,” he wrote, adding, “We have a big, beautiful ocean as a separation.” He further criticized Europe for failing to bring peace to the region.

Meanwhile, Putin told reporters that he would meet Trump “with pleasure,” signaling his willingness to engage with the former U.S. president. In contrast, the European Union announced new sanctions against Russia, targeting the country’s aluminum industry, oil transport vessels, and financial institutions. Additional measures would disconnect more Russian banks from the global Swift payment system and ban select Russian media outlets from broadcasting in Europe.

Credit: BBC