Zelenskyy hits back at Trump's comments, says Ukraine is not for sale


Zelenskyy hits back at Trump

PUBLISHED WED, FEB 19 20256:26 AM EST Astha Rajvanshi Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit back at Donald Trump’s accusation overnight that Ukraine started its war with Russia, saying that the American president is trapped in a “disinformation bubble” and adding that his country was not for sale. The pugnacious response followed Trump’s surprising comments Tuesday that Ukraine was responsible for Russia’s invasion of the country three years ago. Trump also argued that Kyiv could have made a deal to avoid the conflict. The president added that his Ukrainian counterpart’s approval ratings sat at 4% in Ukraine — despite an opinion poll released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showing that 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelenskyy. “As we are talking about 4%, we have seen this disinformation, we understand it’s coming from Russia,” Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv Wednesday, as he dismissed Trump’s claim. He added that any attempts to replace him during the war would fail — Trump raised the question of Ukrainian elections following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeated assertions that Zelenskyy is not Ukraine’s legitimate leader — contending that the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians would not support concessions to Russia. “The army is quite resilient, and it is the most resilient in Europe ... and it guarantees us the opportunity to speak with dignity and on an equal footing with other partners — allies or non-allies,” Zelenskyy said.