By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Russian authorities have praised US President Donald Trump for showing “restraint” during a heated exchange with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the White House by not resorting to physical violence.
Zelensky was in Washington on Friday to discuss issues surrounding a peace deal aimed at ending the war between Ukraine and Russia. The meeting followed peace talks held in Saudi Arabia last week, which Kyiv did not attend.
“How Trump and Vance held back from hitting that scumbag is a miracle of restraint,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, wrote on Telegram on Friday, referring to US Vice President J.D. Vance.
“I think Zelensky’s biggest lie of all his lies was his assertion in the White House that the Kyiv regime in 2022 was alone, without support,” she added.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, called Zelensky an “insolent pig” who had received “a proper slapdown in the Oval Office.”
Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, described the heated confrontation between Trump and Zelensky as “historic.”
Dmitriev was one of Moscow’s negotiators in the Russian-American talks held on 18 February in Saudi Arabia.
Trump and Zelensky openly argued during the White House meeting, clashing over the need for compromises with what the Ukrainian president called Russia’s “killer” leader—referring to Vladimir Putin, who invaded Ukraine three years ago in a war the US claims it wants to end.
Trump berated Zelensky as they sat in the Oval Office, telling him to be more “thankful” and saying, “You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel.”
He told the Ukrainian president to either “make a deal” with Russia “or we’re out.”
