A key ally to Russian despot Vladimir Putin brazenly bragged Donald Trump’s stance on Ukraine came directly from the Kremlin.
Russian TV anchor and Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov shared his glee that Mr Trump and his billionaire right hand man Elon Musk had hit out against Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also described Mr Trump’s comments as a “terrible blow” for Mr Zelensky.
The Republican president drew condemnation and criticism from European leaders after he branded Mr Zelensky a “dictator.” He also incorrectly claimed Ukraine had started the war with Russia. Mr Trump’s statements have been challenged, with analysts pointing to no elections being held in Ukraine since 2019 due to the country’s constitution not allowing for it during times of war.
Claims Ukraine and NATO started the war due to encirclement of Russia have also been challenged with bordering nations Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania having joined in 2004 and Finland and Sweden joining in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Putin has also refused to concede Ukraine is a sovereign nation nation and has claimed Russians and Ukrainians were one people, a claim strongly disputed by a majority of Ukrainians. Despite this, American investor Steve Witkoff met with Russian officials to thrash out a peace deal that would ultimately exclude the Ukrainians.
“We see how Witkiff, or whatever his name is, spent three-and-a-half hours talking to Vladimir Putin before the phone call between our leaders took place,” Mr Solovyov said in the Wednesday edition of his radio show ‘Full Contact’. “Now we see, when Trump is answering questions about the press conference, I think that many of the narratives that are being voiced largely materialised after their conversation.
“The understanding of our position, the knowledge of history, of our relations during the three years, including the diplomatic track and the ability to reach an agreement. Just listen, they are being voiced: ‘You could have had a lot smaller territorial losses’.”
Mr Solovyov then shared a clip of the US President where he claimed Mr Zelensky was unpopular with a four per cent approval rating in the country. There is no credible poll that suggests Mr Zelesnky has an approval rating as low as four per cent.
A poll from the Kyiv Internal Institute of Sociology shared earlier this month said he had an approval rating of 57 per cent. This is a small increase from the 52 per cent rating in December last year and an October 2024 pill by the International Republican Institute said 69 per cent of Ukrainian respondents approved of Mr Zelensky’s actions.
Mr Zelensky previously hit out against Mr Trump’s comments adding: “Since we are talking about 4 percent, we have seen this disinformation, we understand that it is coming from Russia. We understand this, and we have evidence that these numbers are being discussed between America and Russia. President Trump, with great respect for him as a leader of the people (…) unfortunately, lives in this disinformation space.”
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