Fox News host Brian Kilmeade repeatedly checked President Donald Trump on Friday as he ranted about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s handling of Russia’s war in Ukraine during a live radio interview.
“But look what you have, you have a man who’s led a country, had the most beautiful cities demolished — had the most beautiful domes, those domes are the most beautiful,” said Trump on Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”
“But that’s Russia’s fault, though, Mr. President,” Kilmeade chimed in before the president continued on, likening Ukraine to a “demolition site” that’s “sort of like Gaza.”
In the past week, Trump has called Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” and falsely claimed that he “started” the war, which was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
On Friday, Trump sounded off in his interview with Kilmeade and said that Zelenskyy “has no cards” negotiating with Russia.
“You get sick of it, you just get sick of it. And I’ve had it,” Trump declared.
Earlier in the interview, Kilmeade referred to Trump exchanging jabs with Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian president balked on a deal last week that’d give the U.S. access to his country’s rare earth minerals. The White House and Ukraine are nearing a deal on the matter, The Associated Press reported Friday.
Kilmeade also noted that Zelenskyy was “critical” of Trump after the U.S. met with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia to start negotiations on an end to the war — a meeting that left out Ukrainian and European officials.
Trump’s attacks on Zelenskyy this week led some Republicans to stress that Russian President Vladimir Putin, not the Ukrainian president, was an “evil” and “murderous” dictator.
Kilmeade, as Trump pressed on about the war’s toll on Ukraine, interjected, “But Mr. President, that’s Vladimir Putin’s fault, don’t you agree?”
“I get tired of listening to it, I’ll tell you what. I’ve seen it enough. And then he complains that he’s not at a meeting that we’re having with Saudi Arabia trying to intermediate a peace,” replied Trump.
As Trump continued to emphasize the “demolished” state of Ukraine, Kilmeade jumped back in: “Don’t you think it’s Vladimir Putin that did the invasion, unwarranted, to try to take back land he had no right to? And don’t you think fundamentally, that’s that? And now both sides want to talk, it seems, so we should just get to that point?”
“They only want to talk because of me,” Trump replied. “If I wasn’t involved, they wouldn’t be talking to each other.”
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