President Donald Trump has sparked reaction from European leaders after attacking Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
As reported by BBC, on Wednesday Trump managed to deepened the divide between the two countries by calling Zelensky a "dictator."
This comment came following the reaction from Ukrainian president to Kyiv being excluded from US-Russia talks, where Zelensky said that Trump was "living in a disinformation space."
Speaking at a Saudi-backed investment meeting in Florida, Trump said the only thing the 47-year-old politician knew "was playing Joe Biden like a fiddle."
The remark gained criticism from European leaders including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said "it is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelensky his democratic legitimacy."
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also made his support clear for Zelensky in a phone call to the Ukrainian president.
Sir Keir's spokesperson said that the prime minister "expressed his support for President Zelensky as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader."
It was "perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II," the representative added.
Zelensk’s was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, which was supposed to end in May 2024, however after Russia started the invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been under martial law, prompting the suspension of elections.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also criticised Trump’s comment, while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock referred to the remark as "absurd."
The US 47th president, while talking about the elections in Ukraine and Zelensky shared, "He refuses to have elections. He’s low in the real Ukrainian polls. How can you be high with every city being demolished?"
Notably, on Tuesday, February 18, US and Russia senior officials held their first face-to-face talks about Ukraine future since Russia’s apparent attempt to invade the country.
