How Europe reacted to Trump calling Zelenskyy a 'dictator'

U.S. President Donald Trump's description of his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a "dictator" has prompted reaction from leaders worldwide – as has Trump saying he is ready to resume diplomacy with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

"A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left," Trump wrote on social media. "He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing [former U.S. President Joe] Biden 'like a fiddle.'" 

Elected in 2019, the Ukrainian leader's five-year term expired last year, but Ukrainian law does not require elections during wartime. 

Zelenskyy quickly dismissed the claims, telling Ukrainian TV  "President Trump… unfortunately lives in this disinformation space… Around Trump there is a disinformation bubble."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said "It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelenskyy his democratic legitimacy," while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called Trump's description "absurd."

"If you look at the real world instead of just firing off a tweet, then you know who in Europe has to live in the conditions of a dictatorship: people in Russia, people in Belarus," Baerbock said.

Earlier Berlin had also pushed back against Trump's claim that Kyiv had "started" the fighting, insisting "No one but Putin started or wanted this war in the heart of Europe."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Zelenskyy on Wednesday and made public his support for Ukraine's leader.

"The Prime Minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine's democratically elected leader," said a statement issued by Starmer's office, "and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II."

More talks in Paris 

Starmer and Scholz had been among several European leaders in Paris on Monday to meet French President Emmanuel Macron for talks over support for Ukraine amid Trump's policy shift, which has included sanctioning bilateral U.S.-Russia talks over ending the fighting in Ukraine. 

"The position of France and its allies is clear and united. We wish for peace in Ukraine that is lasting," Macron said on X after a second meeting, with the leaders of 19 mostly European countries.

Romania's interim president Ilie Bolojan and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden were present in person, while the leaders of Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden also joined via video conference call.

Although not directly addressing Trump's comments, Macron cited an "existential threat" from Russia, and said the leaders at the meeting insisted Ukraine should have "its rights respected" in any peace process, which should include "robust and credible guarantees" and take into account "European security concerns."

"We stand by Ukraine and will carry out all our responsibilities to ensure peace and security in Europe," Macron added. "We are convinced of the need to increase our defense and security spending and capacities for Europe and each of our countries."

One of the meeting's remote attendees, Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson, called Trump's 'dictator' description "incorrect."

"President Zelenskyy is democratically elected," Kristersson told reporters. "I think nobody wants elections more than Ukraine, because elections would mean that there is peace in Ukraine and that they can run their country again."

'Lethargy' and 'rhetoric'

Speaking later on the wider angle of reducing reliance on Washington, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Europe needed to "wake up from the geopolitical and economic lethargy into which it has unfortunately fallen for some time.

"Recent developments and this different view of things from the United States now oblige us not only to face the truth, but to move at a very high speed and implement decisions that we have been discussing for long," he said.

Zelenskyy's claim that Trump is in a "disinformation bubble" drew a sharp retort from Russia. "The rhetoric of Zelenskyy and many representatives of the Kyiv regime leaves much to be desired," Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"Often representatives of the Ukrainian regime, especially in recent months, allow themselves to say absolutely unacceptable things about heads of other states. Of course, for many heads of state about whom such statements are made, this is absolutely unacceptable," said Peskov.