Trump Takes Jab At Zelenskyy, Claims He Did Not Read U.S. Peace Proposal To End War With Russia

President Donald Trump declared he was “disappointed” in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after claiming he hasn’t read a U.S.-brokered peace proposal aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

Speaking at the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday, Trump was asked by a reporter what his “next steps in Russia-Ukraine talks” are after discussions in Miami between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators over the weekend wrapped up in a standstill with no advancement.

“So, we’ve been speaking to President [Vladimir] Putin and we’ve been speaking to Ukrainian leaders, including Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy,” Trump began.

Noting that he’s a “little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal,” the right-wing leader continued: “That was as of a few hours ago. His people love it … Russia’s fine with it. Russia’s, you know — I guess [they] would rather have the whole country when you think of it.”

Trump then again noted he believes Russia is fine with the proposal, but he’s not sure Zelenskyy is in agreement. “His people love it, but he hasn’t read it,” he repeated.

Trump did not expand on why he thought Zelenskyy hadn’t read the plan.

On Sunday evening, Zelenskyy wrote in an X post that “Ukraine deserves a dignified peace” before noting that “whether there will be peace depends entirely on Russia – on our collective pressure on Russia and on the sound negotiating positions of the United States, Europe, and all our other partners.”

Zelenskyy added, “Russia must be held accountable for what it is doing – for the daily strikes, for the constant terror against our people, and for the war itself.”

Zelenskyy’s post came amid pressure for Kyiv to accept painful concessions to end the war with Russia.

Zelenskyy’s office did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment about Trump’s remarks.

Last month, Trump approved a 28-point peace plan to end the war. The plan calls on Ukraine to cede territory and has been viewed as significantly more favorable to Russia. The plan sparked pushback from Kyiv and Europe.

On Monday, Zelenskyy convened with senior European leaders at the British Prime Minister’s Office in London to try and rally support from his European allies following Trump’s criticism.

Ahead of the meetings, Zelensky declared that it was crucial for Europeans and Americans to band together to put an end to the conflict.

“There are some things which we can’t manage without Americans, things we can’t manage without Europe, and that’s why we need to make some important decisions,” Zelensky said.

On his way to Brussels for meetings with the leaders of NATO and the European Union, Zelensky said that progress was made during the discussions, and that peace proposals were being nailed down and would be sent to the U.S. on Tuesday.