U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz stated that President Donald Trump is disappointed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"The president's disappointment with President Zelensky, which you have heard about, has several reasons. First, it's essential to deeply appreciate what the American people, American taxpayers, and President Trump accomplished during his first term and what we have done since then. Therefore, some statements that have come from Kyiv, frankly speaking, and the insults directed at President Trump, were unacceptable," Waltz said at a briefing at the White House on Thursday.
The advisor also mentioned that this relates to Ukraine's refusal to sign an agreement with the U.S. regarding the transfer of part of its own mineral resources.
"Our own Secretary of the Treasury personally made a trip to offer the Ukrainians what can only be described as a historic opportunity. This means that America can invest in their minerals and resources jointly with Ukraine... There are vast resources. This not only provides long-term security for Ukraine... but also fulfills our obligations to American taxpayers to help them recoup the hundreds of billions that have been lost. Therefore, instead of starting a constructive conversation about what this deal should look like in the future, we received a lot of rhetoric in the media that was incredibly offensive," Waltz stated.
He believes that "there can be nothing better for Ukraine's future and security than long-term U.S. investments in its prosperity," and according to him, Trump thinks that "this is an opportunity for Ukraine to move forward."
"President Trump is obviously very disappointed with President Zelensky right now. The fact that he did not sit down at the negotiating table, that he did not want to take advantage of this opportunity that we offered, I think he will eventually come to this, and I hope it happens very soon," the advisor added.
At the same time, he made it clear that this concerns the U.S. desire to develop cooperation with Russia, which is impossible during wartime. "President Trump, as we have made clear to our Russian colleagues, and I want to state clearly today, is focused on stopping hostilities and moving forward, and we can argue all day long about what happened in the past," Waltz said.
"Discussions with our Russian colleagues (in Riyadh - IF-U)... were quite broad and focused on the goals of our broader relationship, but it was very clear that hostilities must cease to achieve any of these bright goals. And as a first step, we are simply going to do some things that make sense, such as restoring the ability of both of our embassies to operate and function," he explained.
According to Trump's advisor, the U.S. must "talk to both sides to get them to the negotiating table." "And both sides have said that only President Trump can do this," Waltz stated.
As reported, on February 19, Trump stated that elections need to be held in Ukraine, as Zelensky allegedly has a low rating, and also mentioned that Russia supposedly wants an end to the war. He also claimed that Zelensky's support in Ukraine is allegedly at 4%, without clarifying the source of this data. Zelensky described these figures as Russian disinformation.