Top 4 moments from Trump's latest Mar-a-Lago press briefing: ‘Circumcisions,' 'sedentary migrants’

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, February 19, 2025

'Senseless war'

Trump echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin by accusing Ukraine of starting the war that has been raging in the country since 2022.

Speaking hours after U.S. officials met a Russian delegation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss a potential end to the conflict, Trump implied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is behaving like a dictator, noting how the country has not held a presidential election since 2019 and has been living under martial law.

When asked about the reports that Russia is demanding elections in Ukraine before signing a peace deal, Trump claimed Zelensky is "down at 4 percent approval rating," though he did not name his source for that number.

Describing Ukraine as a country that "has been blown to smithereens," Trump said the demand for Ukrainian elections is "not a Russia thing."

"That's something coming from me and coming from many other countries also. Ukraine is being just wiped out," he said, adding that the U.S. has given Ukraine billions of dollars that Zelensky cannot account for.

Trump was apparently referencing a Feb. 2 interview with The Associated Press, during which Zelensky said he had only received $75 billion of the more than $175 billion the U.S. had spent on Ukraine. The comment drew widespread accusations of money laundering, though some sources maintain that his comment was misunderstood, according to the nonprofit Center for Strategic & International Studies.

"I would like to have more truth with the Trump team," Zelensky said in response to Trump's claims, and accused the president of living in a "circle of disinformation," according to The New York Times.

Trump fired off a Truth Social post on Wednesday echoing his sentiments from the briefing, calling Zelensky "a dictator without elections" who has been using the war as his "gravy train."