US Vice President does not like Zelenskyy's responses to Trump's attacks

Vance characterized Zelenskyy's approach as "shameful" and counterproductive, emphasizing that such tactics could jeopardize Ukraine’s relationship with its most important ally.

"Zelensky is getting really bad advice, and I don’t know from whom. He’s not dealing with Joe Biden and the Biden administration anymore. He’s dealing with Donald Trump and the Trump administration," Vance said.

According to him, "litigating his disagreements with the president in the public square is not the best way to deal with President Trump."

"Of course, the Ukrainians are going to have their perspective. The way to surface that is in a private discussion with American diplomats… he’s attacking the only reason this country exists, publicly, right now. And it’s disgraceful. And it’s not something that is going to move the President of the United States. In fact, it’s going to have the opposite effect," the US vice president noted.

He added that he spoke with Trump this morning, and "he has an incredible amount of sympathy and admiration for the people of Ukraine."

"He wants the killing to stop because he doesn’t want innocent Ukrainians to keep losing their lives. So I think he very much thinks about this from the perspective, not just, of course, of his obligations to the United States, but also he just. He wants the brutality and the killing to stop... Zelensky has to take that seriously," Vance stated.

He also condemned European politicians who criticized Trump for suggesting that Ukraine should hold elections.

"The idea that you cannot have elections in the midst of a war is, I think, kind of a preposterous idea. And the President has made very clear that he thinks that should happen," the US vice president added.

Statements by Trump and Zelenskyy

On February 18, US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia.

According to US State Department representative Tammy Bruce, during the meeting, both sides agreed to assign teams to work on "ending the conflict in Ukraine in a way that is acceptable to all parties."

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine would not recognize the outcome of such a meeting, as the issue of ending the war was discussed without Ukrainian participation.

Later, Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine did not accept Russia’s ultimatums at the beginning of the full-scale invasion and would not do so now.

Additionally, after the US-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia, Trump claimed that President Zelenskyy's approval rating was allegedly 4%.

In response, Zelenskyy asserted that the claim about a supposed 4% approval rating comes from Russia. According to him, these figures are being discussed between the US and Russia.

Today, Trump also expressed dissatisfaction that Ukraine is not holding presidential elections during the war, calling President Zelenskyy a "dictator without elections."