Trump "not well informed" about Ukraine war, Dutch Defense Min. says
“He is certainly not well informed,” Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans (VVD) said about Donald Trump calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator. “Of course, it is Putin who is a dictator. Zelenskyy was elected in free elections,” the Dutch Defense Minister said upon entering the Council of Ministers on Friday, NOS reports.
Brekelmans said he finds the American President’s statements worrying as they spread disinformation. “We must ensure the facts remain clear in the entire discussion about Ukraine. And this is such a fact: Putin is a dictator, Putin invaded Ukraine, and not the other way around.”
Trump made the statements on his social media platform on Wednesday. He called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” and said the Ukrainian president’s support was plummeting. “I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4% approval rating.”
In fact, Zelenskyy was elected for a five-year term in 2019, with the next presidential elections scheduled for the spring of 2024, according to AP. However, according to Ukrainian law, no elections can be held during a period of martial law. Zelenskyy has said that elections will be held in Ukraine once martial law is lifted. And reports released by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology on Wednesday showed that Zelenskyy still had the confidence of about 57 percent of Ukrainians.
Trump also called Zelenskyy a “moderately successful comedian” who had convinced the United States “to spend billions on a war he could never win,” implying that Zelenskyy had any say in Russia invading his country.
Trump also said that the U.S. has spent much more money on military support to Ukraine than Europe. That, too, is incorrect, Brekelmans said. “Europe has also played a major role, not just the United States. We really did that together.”
The Ukrainian president responded to Trump’s statements by saying that the American president lives in a “disinformation bubble” created by Russia. “We have also seen that disinformation. We understand that it comes from Russia.”
