Donald Trump has relaunched his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he has "no cards" left to negotiate with and makes getting a deal "very hard". Meanwhile, the US envoy has called talks with the Ukrainian leader "positive". Listen to our Trump 100 podcast as you scroll.

Friday 21 February 2025 18:12, UK

Donald Trump has continued his verbal attack on Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskyy again today.

The US president spoke on Fox Radio, where he made several sweeping statements to host Brian Kilmeade.

Here are some of the key moments from their conversation:

Donald Trump''s attacks against Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the apparent US abandonment of Ukraine have been described as "hurtful" by a Ukrainian MP.

Kira Rudik, leader of the country''s Golos party, tells presenter Kamali Melbourne it''s especially difficult hearing the US president claim that Ukraine started the war with Russia.

"These statements are false, it''s clear to everyone in the whole world," she says.

"We are in a very hectic situation. On one hand, Trump is stating he wants to end the war, but on another he is repeating many things we''ve heard from Russian propaganda.

"We hope it''s a negotiation technique."

Rudik says among the most frustrating things to hear in the last week is the idea that Moscow wants a ceasefire and a peace deal.

"We''ve not seen anything that proves that," she adds.

"Even during discussions in Saudi Arabia and Trump made his statements, Russia was constantly attacking us and sending missiles to our peaceful cities. And it hasn''t stopped."

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reiterated his "absolutely clear" desire for Ukraine and Europe to have a seat at the table for any peace talks with Russia.

Posting on X after talks with the Swedish prime minister, Zelenskyy said he shared details of his "constructive" meeting with US envoy Keith Kellogg and talks with foreign leaders.

"We must be absolutely clear: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, nothing about Europe without Europe," he said.

"We are working on a shared vision for security guarantees. A decision must be in place before any potential negotiations begin”and Europe must be at the table. 

"What we need is peace”just and lasting peace, not just a temporary ceasefire."

We can now bring you more from Donald Trump''s Fox Radio interview.

The US president has criticised Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer, who he says have "done nothing" to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump said Macron was a "good friend" and Sir Keir was a "nice guy" but said Russia has only come to the table "because of me".

Both the French president and British prime minister are due to visit Trump in Washington next week.

As a war of words between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues, the war rages on.

Scroll through our maps below to view the latest battleground situation in key areas, including Donetsk, Belgorod, Kursk.

It''s another busy day of diplomacy for Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Having spoken with the Polish president earlier - see our post at 13.14 - he''s now shared he''s had conversations with his Czech and Croatian counterparts.

He said he had a "good" call with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, discussing "next steps and joint plans for the near future".

Meanwhile, he talked about the "continuation of the Czech initiative on artillery shell supplies" and a "new proposal to support Ukraine" with Petr Pavel.

Donald Trump''s national security advisor is speaking now at a key conservative conference.

Mike Waltz, who was part of the team kicking off talks with Moscow on Tuesday, says he expects Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign a deal giving the US a chunk of the wealth from Ukraine''s mineral resources.

"Look, here''s the bottom line - President Zelensky is going to sign that deal," he says at the Conservative Political Action Conference, also known as CPAC.

"And you will see that in the very short term, and that is good for Ukraine.

"What better could you have for Ukraine than to be in an economic partnership with the United States?" 

Just ahead of his remarks, Zelenskyy''s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said he has a call with Waltz, during which they discussed "aligning positions".

The president''s office said Yermak "stressed the importance of maintaining bilateral cooperation and a high level of relations between Ukraine and the United States", though no other details were given.

Ukrainian minerals have long been coveted by foreign powers, and now Trump wants to access its resources as a form of reparations for the billions of dollars the US has spent supporting the country.

Leaked drafts of an agreement proposed by Washington show the US is pushing for 50% of the revenues from mineral resources in future.

But there are concerns on the Ukrainian side over security guarantees, with the US so far excluding them from talks with Russia and Trump talking about occupied lands remaining out of Ukrainian control.

Ukraine "never provoked this war" and must be at the negotiating table, Ukrainian MP Andrii Zhupanyn has told Sky''s Samantha Washington. 

The official said many people were "surprised with the information coming out of Washington" in the past week in which Donald Trump accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being a "dictator".

"I don''t think many of us expected that," he said.

He said Europe should be "united and increase its support for Ukraine". 

On comments made by Elon Musk accusing Zelenskyy of running a "disgusting, massive graft machine", he added: "That''s very disappointing for us. I don''t think he deserved that.

"Ukraine never provoked this war and we are suffering every day."

Zhupanyn went on to say when it came to a peace deal, Ukraine had to be at the negotiating table.

"We must have a place and Europe must have a place," he added.

"Only something that includes Ukraine can then be explained to our people."

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