Inside the 48 hours that Trump turned on Zelenskyy

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's long-strained relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy escalated again on Wednesday, with allies on both sides watching to see if the feud would stifle hopes for a U.S.-brokered peace or, conversely, help advance the peace process. The timing of this escalation raises questions about its potential impact on international relations and future negotiations.

Trump posted an angry message on his social media platform, calling Zelenskyy a "non-election dictator," accusing him of forcing the U.S. to spend hundreds of billions of dollars "on a war that can't be won." Trump further expanded on his derision later in a speech in Miami, solidifying his stance on the matter.

Trump claimed, "Zelenskyy better get his act together or he's going to have nothing left." These accusations echoed Moscow's rhetoric that the Ukrainian president declared martial law at the start of the Russian invasion, causing the scheduled elections to be impossible. Trump has been skeptical of Zelenskyy for years, questioning his decisions and having previously pressured him to investigate then-rival Joe Biden during his first impeachment trial, adding layers to their complex history.

Trump combined his criticism of Biden and Zelenskyy, implying that Zelenskyy was "cashing in" on American aid during Biden's administration. Trump also stated that if the Biden administration were to remain in power for another year, "you're going to be in World War III, and that's not going to happen now." His remarks suggest a significant shift in his approach to foreign policy and international conflicts.

According to sources, prior to Wednesday, Trump's aides had been closely monitoring Zelenskyy's public statements, particularly his criticism of the U.S. for excluding Ukraine from talks with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, and were growing increasingly uneasy. Zelenskyy told reporters in his Kyiv office that Trump was living in a "network of disinformation," which thoroughly enraged Trump, leading to a direct confrontation.

An official traveling with Trump said that Trump told aides in Florida privately that he wanted to respond directly, prompting him to post on Truth Social. He fired off the "diplomatic missile" en route to his Miami golf club and expounded on his views to hundreds of audience members at a Miami investment conference sponsored by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, showcasing the intersection of politics and finance.

A White House official told CNN: "It's frustrating. There is a strong and legitimate belief that this brutal war must end, and Zelenskyy's public statements are undermining that path." However, Zelenskyy believes that the way Trump envisions ending the war is very similar to Russia's demands. Members of the Trump administration have ruled out the possibility of Kyiv joining NATO and said that U.S. troops would not help guarantee Ukraine's security after the war ends, raising concerns about long-term stability.

For these reasons, Zelenskyy said he had to speak out. For months, Zelenskyy had been careful to avoid a complete break with Washington's mercurial new partner. In the weeks before last year's election, he arranged a meeting designed to assuage the then-Republican presidential candidate's doubts about U.S. involvement in the war. The two men made a show of willingness to get along at the start of their discussion at Trump Tower in Manhattan. Trump said he had a "very good relationship" with the Ukrainian leader, but that he also had a "very good relationship" with his Moscow counterpart, Putin. Zelenskyy interjected, "I wish we had more good relationships." Trump replied: "But, you know, it takes two to tango."

At the time, the exchange drew little attention. Five months later, as Trump prepares to meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia, it seems to foreshadow an extraordinary rift emerging. Few foreign leaders have been spared Trump's mood swings, which led him to cancel overseas trips, abruptly end phone calls, and impose harsh new tariffs during his first term. However, so far, Trump's frustrations do not appear to herald such a radical shift in U.S. foreign policy as turning away from long-standing U.S. allies in Europe and turning to the Kremlin.

Many of Trump's allies said Zelenskyy should have anticipated Trump's anger. "Anyone who knows the president would tell you that thinking Zelenskyy can change the president's mind by disparaging the president in the public media is a terrible way to deal with this administration," Vance told the Daily Mail.

In explaining Trump's eye-catching public statements, White House officials insisted that his primary – indeed, his only – goal was to end Ukraine's three-year-old conflict, which he believes was badly misjudged by previous administrations. They said that a war solution should have been reached long ago after years of intense conflict. Trump himself seems agnostic about specific plans to end the war. "I don't care so much about other things, I just want to stop having millions of people being killed," he said last week.

However, it is unclear how he intends to achieve this goal while condemning Zelenskyy and aligning himself with Russian rhetoric. Trump's Republican allies in Washington said on Wednesday that the president may have a grand plan. Asked if he was concerned about the president's remarks about Ukraine, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said: "I support a result that achieves peace in Ukraine." Thune said he believed Trump and his team were working to achieve peace, "and right now, you have to give them some space."

North Dakota Republican Senator Kevin Cramer said that Trump is "always setting the table for something," adding that he suspected Trump may be "setting the table for negotiations with Putin through his comments about Zelenskyy." Nevertheless, if any negotiated end to the conflict is to succeed, Trump needs Zelenskyy's support. If he really wants to keep U.S. troops out of the conflict, he needs European allies to step up and send their own peacekeeping forces – a suggestion that some countries have already made.

Some of Trump's advisers and allies do see strategy in this bluster. One Trump loyalist who spoke to the president in Florida in recent days said that one reason Trump is attacking Ukraine is to scare Europe into putting up more money to defend Ukraine. "Look, there's a method to this madness," the person said, pointing to a report that Denmark has pledged to increase weapons spending.

A Trump adviser expressed the same view to CNN on Wednesday: "If other European countries had half the reaction that Denmark did, it would be a huge win." Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson posted on X, refuting much of Trump's claims, but said that his former counterpart was pushing a larger point. "When are we Europeans going to stop being shocked by Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?" Johnson wrote. "Of course Ukraine didn't start the war. You might as well say the US attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor. Of course a country that has been violently invaded shouldn't have elections. The UK didn't have a general election from 1935 to 1945. Of course Zelenskyy's approval ratings aren't 4 per cent. Actually they are about the same as Trump's." "Trump's statements are not designed to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action."

Indeed, French President Emmanuel Macron's hastily arranged meeting of European leaders in Paris this week suggests that Trump's words are being taken very seriously. "Russia poses an existential threat to Europeans," Macron said in an interview with a French local newspaper. "Don't think that the unimaginable can't happen, including the worst." At the same time, Macron has not completely given up on Trump. He will travel to Washington next week for meetings, as will British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has indicated a willingness to send troops to serve as peacekeepers in Ukraine. Both spoke with Zelenskyy on Wednesday after Trump's insulting remarks.

Downing Street subsequently stated: "The Prime Minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as the democratically elected leader of Ukraine and said that suspending elections during wartime was completely justified, just as Britain did during World War II." Trump is increasingly positioning himself as a peacemaker – at any cost – disregarding the breakdown of Western alliances and the subversion of U.S. foreign policy. "We are successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia, and everyone acknowledges that only Trump can do it," Trump said Wednesday night, referring to himself in the third person again and again. "In the Trump administration, we will be able to do that. I think Putin even acknowledges that."