U.S. President Donald Trump chose not to label Russian President Vladimir Putin a dictator while responding to journalists on the sidelines of a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Feb. 24.
"I don't use those words lightly... I think we're going to see how it all works out," Trump said on Feb. 24 when asked if he would call Putin a dictator the same way he labeled President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 19.
Trump called Ukrainian leader a "dictator" in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, accusing him of refusing to hold elections, and repeating false claims about the war in Ukraine.
Trump's remarks disregard Ukraine's constitution which prohibits elections under martial law and echoed the narratives of Russian propaganda.
Trump will meet with Zelensky within the next two weeks to finalize a minerals deal. Ukraine and the U.S. have been working out the terms of such a deal for weeks.
Trump said in early February that he wanted to strike a deal with Ukraine involving access to rare earth minerals in exchange for continued aid. Trump later claimed that Kyiv has "essentially agreed" to a $500 billion resource deal. A former Ukrainian official described the initial deal as "a colonial agreement."
Following Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to meet Trump on Feb. 27.
Antonina Andriichuk
(Updated: )
