News report by Ahmad Al-Mazyad WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (KUNA) -- The recent war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky has fueled concerns at U.S. political milieus over growing tensions between Washington and Kyiv.
This war has also tiggered extreme concerns in Europe, which has held a couple of emergency summits in France in the course of three days in order to look into the latest developments of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The problem began when Donald Trump suggested that Ukraine started the war with Russia, dismissing Ukraine's concern that it had been left out of US-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia on ending the Ukraine war this week.
"Today I heard, 'oh, we weren't invited.' Well you've been there for three years, you should have ended it... you should have never started it. You could have made a deal," Trump said.
This prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to respond, saying Trump lived in a "disinformation space".
"Unfortunately, President Trump - I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us - unfortunately lives in this disinformation space," Zelensky said.
Trump responded by lashing out at Zelensky as being "grossly incompetent" and "a dictator" due to there not being an election since 2019, and the next elections were scheduled for 2024.
The Ukrainian president vowed to hold one once the conflict ended.
The US and Russia agreed in Riyadh to appoint high-level teams to negotiate the end of the war and said they were working to reestablish diplomatic channels.
Zelensky reiterated on Tuesday Ukraine was not happy with the exclusion of Ukraine and the European Union (EU) from recent U.S.-Russian talks held in Riyadh to negotiate the end of the war. He said that while any country has the right to discuss bilateral issues, the fact that the US held direct talks with Russia "helped Putin out of his long isolation." The latest U.S. moves have stoked fears that Europeans may be cut out of a peace deal that would also impact their own security, particularly if it is seen as too favorable to Russia.
However, the U.S. Department of State reassured European allies by announcing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had held talks with his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and UK and the EU foreign policy chief about recent U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the war.
The war of words and mutual accusations between Trump and Zelensky has impacted the US Congress, especially among pro-Kyiv Republicans who sought to fend off conflicts with the White House by calling for giving President Trump some leeway to try to achieve a breakthrough in the three-year war.
Senator Thom Tillis, who visited Ukraine with two Democratic senators last week, was quoted as voicing concern about anything that could allow some sort of moral parity between Zelensky and Putin.
Tillis spoke highly of the Ukrainian president as a head of state who could keep the nation together and focus on the "Russian occupiers".
Senator Susan Collins said in recent remarks that she was satisfied with the Ukrainian leader who managed to lead his country so bravely during the war.
She added that it is essential to remember that it was Putin who had launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
For his part, Senator John Kennedi said he would disagree with the White House about who had started the war in Ukraine, saying that Putin had launched the war so he should be defeated.
Comparatively, Senate Majority Leader John Thune avoided making any comment on Trump's recent remarks labelling the Ukrainian leader as a "dictator", but said he would support a peaceful solution in Ukraine.
He believed that the U.S. Administration and Trump were trying to achieve this goal, but should be given some space to do this job, underling that it would be in everyone's interest to reach a peaceful way out.
Trump had promised during his campaign to put an end to the Ukraine-Russia war and lashed out at the former administration's decision to provide financial assistance to Kyiv. The U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) estimated in November U.S. assistance decided by the Congress to Ukraine since the Ukraine-Russia war was launched at a total USD 182 billion. (end) amm.mt