
Fact check: Trump’s ‘dictator’ attacks on Zelensky | The Straits Times
- A 'dictator without elections'
- Who started the war?
- US aid to Ukraine
- Europe's aid to Ukraine
- 'Millions' of dead?
- A 'dictator without elections'
- Who started the war?
- US aid to Ukraine
- Europe's aid to Ukraine
- 'Millions' of dead?
As reported before, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrived in Kyiv on 12 February to discuss economic partnership with Ukraine and met with Zelenskyy during his visit.
Claim: Zelenskyy started the war in Ukraine with Russia.
Claim: Zelenskyy is a dictator.
Claim: Zelenskyy has a 4% approval rating.
Claim: The U.S. spent $350 billion to help Ukraine.
Claim: Zelenskyy said he doesn't know where half of the money the U.S. has given Ukraine went.
Claim: Zelenskyy was "sleeping and unavailable" to meet Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett during a Feb. 12 Kyiv visit.
Attacks by US President Donald Trump on Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky have deepened a crisis between the two leaders as Ukraine's war with Russia approaches its third anniversary.
AFP fact checked some of the statements by the US leader.
Data released by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) shows that while Zelensky's support base has decreased since early 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, it is still far higher than Trump's claim of four percent. In a poll conducted between February 4-9, 57 percent of adults said they trusted Zelensky, while 37 percent of respondents said that they do not and six percent said it was hard to say.
Despite the US president's claims of low support, Zelenskyy's approval rating reached 57% in February - higher than Trump's own.
There is no credible poll in Ukraine that shows Zelensky with an approval rating in the single digits. Surveys consistently show him in the 50-60 percent approval range, down from the 75-90 percent marks he was getting earlier in the war.
February's KIIS poll showed 57 percent of Ukrainians trust Zelensky, which is a higher level of support than President Trump has received in recent polls from Gallup (48 percent) and YouGov (47 percent).
Claim: Zelensky is a 'dictator without elections'
Claim: 'I hate to say it, but he's down at 4% approval rating'
Claim: 'You should have never started it'
On Feb. 24, 2022, Russian forces launched an invasion on Ukraine, a country that the night before was at peace. Putin called it a "special military operation" and he premised the attack on false claims about Ukraine. As people were sleeping, Russian troops and tanks rolled into Ukraine and missiles poured down in what U.S. military analysts called the largest military operation in Europe since World War II.
The attack followed weeks of Russian maneuvers that included staging a large-scale military exercise along Russia's border with Ukraine that the U.S. estimated to include 190,000 Russian troops.
We rate the statement Pants on Fire!
President Donald Trump this week falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war that has cost tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, causing outrage and alarm in a country that has spent nearly three years fighting back a much larger Russian military. [...]
Here's a look at some of Trump's statements: