US Vice President J.D. Vance has intensified criticism of the US administration towards Ukraine and warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky not to make negative statements about President Donald Trump, Ukrinform reported, quoted by BTA, referring to a comment by Vance made in an interview published today with the British newspaper "Daily Mail".
"The idea that Zelensky will change the president's mind by slandering him in the public media... anyone who knows the president will tell you that this is a very bad way to work with this administration," Vance stressed.
Vance said that Zelensky had been given "bad advice" on how to deal with the new administration and had been told for the past three years that he could do no wrong. "We obviously love the Ukrainian people. We admire the bravery of the soldiers, but we obviously think this war needs to end quickly," he added.
Vance also rejected the idea that Trump's policies were influenced by Russian disinformation. "I think Donald Trump knows a lot about geopolitics and has a very strong position that he has had for a very long time," he said.
Trump recently called for elections in Ukraine amid claims that Zelensky's approval rating in Ukraine had fallen to 4 percent and that the country had been "ripped to the ground," with most cities outside of Kiev in ruins.
In response, Zelensky denied Trump's claims, calling the poll data part of Russian disinformation. He also stated that the total amount of military spending during wartime reached $320 billion, with $200 billion coming from international partners (the United States and the European Union). According to Zelensky, the United States allocated $67 billion in the form of military aid and another $31.5 billion in the form of direct budget support.