{"id":38883,"date":"2025-02-24T01:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T07:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=38883"},"modified":"2025-02-24T01:54:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T07:54:00","slug":"us-envoy-praises-zelenskyy-after-trumps-censure-of-the-ukrainian-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=38883","title":{"rendered":"US envoy praises Zelenskyy after Trump’s censure of the Ukrainian leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KYIV, Ukraine — President Donald Trump\u2019s envoy to Ukraine and Russia said on Friday that he had held \u201cextensive and positive discussions\u201d with Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the three-year war with Russia<\/a> and praised the Ukrainian leader as an \u201cembattled and courageous leader of a nation at war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg<\/a> \u2014 who traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday and whose planned news conference with Zelenskyy on Thursday was changed<\/a> at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity \u2014 struck a positive tone after what he said on the social platform X was \u201ca long and intense day\u201d of talks with Ukraine\u2019s senior leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His comments marked a departure from recent rebukes of Zelenskyy<\/a> by Trump and other senior U.S. officials that appeared to indicate an abrupt deterioration of relations. Trump called Zelenskyy<\/a> \u201ca dictator without elections\u201d and warned him that he’d \u201c better move fast<\/a> \u201d to negotiate an end to the war or risk not having a nation to lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The possibility that vital U.S. military aid for Ukraine was in doubt darkened the mood in Kyiv as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russia\u2019s bigger army<\/a> on the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European governments, uneasy about being sidelined<\/a> so far in talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials<\/a>, have jumped to shore up Zelenskyy and at the same time avoid a breakdown in transatlantic relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polish President Andrzej Duda, whose country has been a vocal supporter of neighboring Ukraine, said Zelenskyy phoned him on Friday. Duda said he told Zelenskyy \u201cto remain committed to the course of calm and constructive cooperation\u201d with Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We consistently believe there is no other way to stop the bloodshed and achieve lasting peace in Ukraine except with the support of the United States,\u201d Duda said he also told Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI trust that goodwill and honesty form the foundation of the U.S. negotiation strategy,\u201d Duda said on X. \u201cI have no doubt that President Trump is guided by a deep sense of responsibility for global stability and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union\u2019s top defense official said Friday that the bloc plans to send a strong message of support to Ukraine next week with a new aid package to mark Monday\u2019s third anniversary of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said senior members of the bloc\u2019s executive branch are weighing how, \u201cin a very urgent way, to send a very strong message to Ukrainians and to the world that we are standing together with Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European policy commissioners, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other top EU officials are traveling to Kyiv on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia has pressed on with its invasion even as talks with the U.S. take place, striking civilian targets almost daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, Russian forces dropped three powerful glide bombs on Kostiantynivka<\/a>, in Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donetsk region, killing one man and injuring two others, regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Russian glide bomb damaged homes and injured five people in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukraine\u2019s Interior Ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public quarrel between Trump and Zelenskyy began after Russia and the U.S. agreed Tuesday to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. With that, and a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump abruptly reversed the three-year U.S. policy of isolating Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said during a White House briefing on Thursday that the U.S. president is \u201cobviously very frustrated\u201d with Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelenskyy was unhappy that a U.S. team opened the talks without inviting him or European governments that have backed Kyiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Trump claimed without evidence Zelenskyy was deeply unpopular in Ukraine and falsely suggested that Ukraine was to blame for the war<\/a>, Zelenskyy said Trump was living in a Russian-made \u201cdisinformation space,\u201d suggesting he had been duped by Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KYIV, Ukraine — President Donald Trump\u2019s envoy to Ukraine and Russia said on Friday that he had held \u201cextensive and positive discussions\u201d with Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the three-year war with Russia and praised the Ukrainian leader as an \u201cembattled and courageous leader of a nation at war.\u201d Retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg \u2014 who traveled to Kyiv […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9340,32442,10442],"class_list":["post-38883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-envoy","tag-praises","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38885,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38883\/revisions\/38885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}