By Olena Harmash and Tom Balmforth
KYIV (Reuters) – U.S President Donald Trump’s envoy met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Thursday but there was no immediate word on whether their talks had helped smooth over an unprecedented wartime rift between the once firm allies.
Zelenskiy had earlier struck a conciliatory tone after accusing Trump of repeating Russian disinformation in response to the U.S. president’s accusation that Ukraine had started the three-year-old war with Russia. Trump went on to refer to Zelenskiy as a “dictator”.
Trump, in office for just a month, is pushing for a quick deal to end the war and has alarmed Washington’s European allies by leaving them and Ukraine out of initial talks with Russia.
His vice president, JD Vance, said on Thursday he believed that an end to the conflict was near and there was no stopping the war without speaking to Russia.
Trump’s Ukraine and Russia envoy Keith Kellogg said on arriving in Kyiv on Wednesday that he was there to listen. He met Zelenskiy on Thursday but there was no immediate word from either side on the outcome of the talks.
Trump is seeking to reestablish ties with Russia and also invest in Ukraine’s resources of minerals critical to the energy transition. Ukraine rejected an initial U.S. plan as it did not include security guarantees.
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said on Thursday that Ukraine should rein in its criticism of the United States and agree to the minerals deal.
“They need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal,” he told Fox News.
European leaders have responded to Trump’s apparent about-turn on Ukraine by pledging to step up spending on defence and some are considering a U.S.-backed European peacekeeping force for the country. The Kremlin says the plan is a major cause for concern but Zelenskiy and NATO have welcomed it.
“It is vital that … Russia will never again try to take one more square kilometre of Ukrainian land,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said, adding that this would entail robust security guarantees.
“While there is much that still needs to be decided, there is no question that Europe has a vital role to play in securing peace in Ukraine,” he told reporters in Bratislava.
(Additional reporting by Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk; Writing by Tom Balmforth and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Frances Kerry)
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