Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he is counting on pragmatism from the US, after its president denounced him as a "dictator without elections".
He also called for courage from his compatriots.
"We are standing strong on our own two feet. I am counting on Ukrainian unity, our courage...on the unity of Europe and the pragmatism of America," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
He said it was important that the current visit to Ukraine by the US envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, be "constructive".
US President Donald Trump said Mr Zelensky "better move fast" to secure a peace deal or he would have no country left.
He spoke hours after Mr Zelensky hit back at his suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, saying the US President was trapped in a Russian disinformation space.
"A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left," Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform.
In his post, Mr Trump called Mr Zelensky a "modestly successful comedian" who had "talked the US into spending $350 billion dollars, to go into a war that couldn't be won, that never had to start".
Mr Trump said that Mr Zelensky would not be able to end the war without the help of "the US and Trump".
He added: "The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe's money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2025
"Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand equalization, in that this war is far more important to Europe than it is to us - We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation.
"On top of this, Zelensky admits that half of the money we sent him is 'MISSING'".
Mr Trump said that Mr Zelensky "refuses to have elections" and "is very low in Ukrainian polls".
He said that the only thing that the Ukrainian president was good at was "playing Biden 'like a fiddle'".
Mr Trump said that they were "successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia, something all admit only 'TRUMP,' and the Trump Administration, can do".
"Biden never tried," he added. "Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelensky probably wants to keep the 'gravy train' going."
Mr Trump said that he loves Ukraine but that its president has done a "terrible job".
"His Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died," he said.
Comments 'false and dangerous'
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Mr Trump's comments '"false and dangerous", German newspaper Spiegel reported.
"It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelensky his democratic legitimacy," Mr Scholz said.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to meet Mr Trump at the White House next week, a US official said.
"President Macron is expected at the White House early next week," a White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Mr Zelensky, who met Mr Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, said he would like Mr Trump's team to have "more truth" about Ukraine, a day after Mr Trump said Ukraine "should never have started" the conflict with Russia.
The Ukrainian leader said Mr Trump's assertion that his approval rating was just 4% was Russian disinformation and that any attempt to replace him would fail.
"We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia.
"That is, President Trump...unfortunately lives in this disinformation space," Mr Zelensky told Ukrainian TV.
The latest poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, from early February, says 57% of Ukrainians trust Mr Zelensky.
Less than a month into his presidency, Mr Trump has upended US policy on Ukraine and Russia, ending Washington's bid to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine with a Trump-Putin phone call and talks between senior US and Russian officials.
Mr Trump said he may meet Mr Putin this month.
The Kremlin said such a meeting could take longer to prepare but Russia's sovereign wealth fund said it expected a number of US companies to return to Russia as early as the second quarter.
Putin hails US-Russia talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed progress in talks with the US.
The Russian leader also claimed his troops had crossed into Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region - a first ground attack there since 2022 - but Ukraine swiftly denied the claim.
Mr Putin said he rated the bilateral talks in Saudi Arabia "highly", describing them as a "first step" to restoring relations with Washington.
"In my opinion, we made the first step to restore work in various areas of mutual interests," he told journalists while visiting a drone manufacturing plant in his native Saint Petersburg.
Ukraine was not invited to the Riyadh talks as Russia and the US moved to sideline both Ukraine and Europe.
Russia, which for years has railed against the US military presence in Europe, wants a reorganisation of the continent's entire security framework as part of any deal to end the Ukraine fighting.
Mr Putin said that Russia and the US needed to "trust" each other if talks were to be successful.
"It is impossible to solve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis, without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States," he said.
US demands 'not a serious conversation' - Zelensky
Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky told a press conference in Kyiv this morning, that the US supplied his country with $67 billion in weapons and $31.5bn in budget support.
He said that US demands about returning $500bn in minerals is "not a serious conversation" and that he cannot sell his country.
Mr Zelensky had earlier criticised the US-Russia talks for excluding Ukraine, saying efforts to end the war must be "fair" and involve European countries, while postponing his own trip to Saudi Arabia.
Russia had revelled in Mr Trump's previous remarks, praising him as the "only Western leader" who understood that "dragging Ukraine into NATO" was a cause of the conflict.
"He is a completely independent politician," Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by the state-run TASS news agency this morning.
Mr Trump's diplomatic overtures towards Russia have alarmed Ukraine, which fears it will be forced to make massive concessions to end the fighting.
In his press conference, Mr Trump suggested that one such concession would be to hold new elections in Ukraine, one of Russia's demands for a peace deal.
"It's been a long time since we've had an election," said Mr Trump. "That's not a Russian thing, that's something coming from me, from other countries."
Mr Trump's latest comments are unlikely to allay fears among some European leaders, already worried that the US will make serious concessions to Russia and re-write the continent's security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal.
Ukraine had been working on a deal to give the US access to vast amounts of Ukrainian natural resources in exchange for protection.
But the deal fell through as Ukraine said the draft agreement lacked any security guarantees.
"I am defending Ukraine, I cannot sell our country. That's all," Mr Zelensky said.
France's President Emmanuel Macron was to host a virtual in Paris on Ukraine today.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he will be attending a virtual meeting of NATO this afternoon on Ukraine.
He said he will "be pushing strongly now for the European Union to accelerate the membership process" for Ukraine.
"I think there would be a significant security benefit to Ukraine just by virtue of being a member of the EU," Mr Martin added.
Read more:
US-Russia talks: A first step towards ending the war in Ukraine
