White House points to Zelensky's rhetoric hindering peace in Ukraine

Aides of US President Donald Trump have been anxiously following the public statements of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy lately, and especially his reaction to the US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia. This was reported by CNN on February 20, citing sources.

The media outlet notes that the situation became even more tense when Zelensky called Trump a "victim of Russian disinformation." After that, the American leader privately told aides that he would like to respond to his Ukrainian counterpart directly. And published a message on the social network Truth Social, the source noted.

"This is a disappointment. There is a strong and justified feeling that this <military operation> should stop, but the path to that is complicated by Zelensky's public statements," a White House official said.

There was a split between Trump and Zelensky. What the media say

Earlier on February 20, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the fall in the rating of Ukrainian President Zelensky is obvious. So he commented on Trump's statement that Zelensky's rating among Ukrainians has fallen to 4%. According to Peskov, Zelensky's rhetoric "leaves much to be desired." He added that often representatives of the Kiev regime, especially in recent months, allow themselves to say absolutely impermissible things to the heads of other states.

Before that, on February 19, Trump said that Zelensky "did a terrible job", as a result of which his country was destroyed and "millions of people" died in vain. In addition, the US President said that Kiev could not report on where it spent the funds transferred by Washington.