Trump lashes out at Zelenskyy over Ukraine war: He has no cards, I've had it

Earlier this week, Donald Trump called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator", while warning the latter to move quickly to secure peace with Russia or risk losing his country as the war between the two nations continues to rage.

In Short

• Trump intensifies attacks on Zelenskyy amid US-Russia peace deal efforts
• He accuses Ukrainian President of having 'no cards'
• Trump's latest criticism comes amid escalating tensions with Zelenskyy

As the US is working towards securing a peace deal in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, Donald Trump has intensified his attacks against his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, amid escalated tensions between the two leaders.

In an interview with Fox News Radio on Friday, Trump said, "I've been watching him for years, and I've been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards. And you get sick of it. You just get sick of it. And I've had it."

The US President's latest attack comes as Trump and Zelenskyy have lashed out at each other publicly. While Trump accused the Ukrainian President of starting the war with Russia, Zelenskyy accused his American counterpart of living in a "disinformation bubble".

Zelenskyy has also rejected the outcome of US-Russia talks held in Riyadh during which the two sides agreed to start working together on peace negotiations. The President asserted that there would be "no talks behind Kyiv's back,"

Meanwhile, the spat further escalated on Wednesday after Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator” and a “modestly successful comedian".

During the Fox News Radio interview, Trump was repeatedly asked to comment on who was to blame for starting the Russia-Ukraine war, but he dodged the question.

"They only want to talk because of me. If I wasn't involved, they wouldn't be talking to each other. And Russia would continue to go through Ukraine because they are going through they've taken a lot of land, and Russia would continue to march through Ukraine," he said in response.

"Every time I say, oh, it's not Russia's fault, I always get slammed by the fake news. But I'm telling you, Biden said the wrong things... Zelenskyy said the wrong things. I think they really want to make a deal. I do. They found it impossible to make a deal with Zelenskyy as his buildings came down."

Trump made similar comments while addressing an event at the White House earlier on Friday and said that he's had "very good talks with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, and not such good talks with Ukraine".

"They don't have any cards, but they're playing tough. But we're not going to let this continue. This war is terrible, it would never have happened if I were President. But it did happen, so we're stuck with it, the whole world is stuck with it... We have people that better get to the table, get it ended," he stated.

In his address, Trump also predicted a minerals' agreement would be reached soon. "We're signing an agreement, hopefully in the next fairly short period of time."

Last year, Ukraine floated the idea of opening its critical minerals to investment by allies. This was part of a "victory plan" that sought to put it in the strongest position for talks and force Russia to the table.

Trump has embraced the idea, saying he wants Ukraine to supply the US with rare earths and other minerals in return for financially supporting its war effort.

However, Zelenskyy rejected a detailed US proposal last week that would have seen Washington and US firms receiving 50 percent of Ukraine's critical minerals, which include graphite, uranium, titanium and lithium, a key component in electric car batteries.

Since then, the two leaders have engaged in the public spat.