Trump accused of making White House an 'arm of the Kremlin' - as Zelenskyy says peace deal 'is still very far away'

By Danielle de Wolfe

@dannidewolfe

Donald Trump has hit out at Europe after political opponents branded the White House an "arm of the Kremlin"- as Zelenskyy insisted on Monday that a peace deal was "still very, very far away".

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Speaking on Monday, the US President hit out at Europe once again, insisting the United States should worry more about "migrant rape gangs and drug lords" than Vladimir Putin - or else it could "end up like Europe".

Trump's latest anti-migrant attack on the continent coincides with Democrats - led by Senator Chris Murphy - accusing the President of turning the White House into what he described as an "arm of the Kremlin".

Taking to social media on Monday, Trump falsely claiming to be the only US president in history to not have handed any Ukrainian land over to Vladimir Putin.

Posting on his social media platform Truth Social, he said: "Remember that when the weak and ineffective Democrat's criticise, and the Fake News gladly puts out anything they say!"

It comes a day after world leaders including Ursula von der Leyen, Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron joined Starmer at an emergency summit in London to discuss Ukraine following Trump and Zelenskyy's unprecedented Oval Office fallout.

Speaking on Monday, Ukraine's leader added that he expects to keep receiving US support despite his bust-up Donald Trump.

The Ukrainian leader also rejected US calls to resign, after Trump-backed Republicans called for him to stand down.

He said that "replacing me is not simple", adding “it’s not enough to just hold an election. You need to also not let me run.

"This will be a bit more difficult. Looks like you will have to negotiate with me,” Mr Zelensky said.

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"I think our relationship (with the US) will continue, because it's more than an occasional relationship," the Ukrainian president said, referring to Washington's support for the past three years of war.

"I believe that Ukraine has a strong enough partnership with the United States of America" to keep aid flowing, he said at a briefing in Ukrainian before leaving London.

"So think our relationship (with the US) will continue, because it's more than an occasional relationship," the Ukrainian president said, referring to Washington's support for the past three years of war.

It comes as Reform leader Nigel Farage told LBC that Zelenskyy has to "wake up and smell the coffee".

Speaking with Nick Ferrari, Farage explained that "wars either end in a deal or they end in annihilation."

He continued by saying Zelenskyy realised rapidly that he had “overplayed his hand” during the Oval Office altercation with Trump.

It's a view that was rebutted by Torie Priti Patel, who branded Farage's comments "morally wrong".

The turn of events is unwelcome for Ukraine, whose army is having a hard time keeping Russian forces at bay.

The Ukrainian leader was in London to attend Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's effort to rally his European counterparts around continued support for Ukraine amid political uncertainty in the US, and Mr Trump's overtures towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Europe is suspicious of the US president's motives and strategy. Friedrich Merz, Germany's chancellor-elect after a recent election, said on Monday that he did not believe last Friday's Oval Office clash was spontaneous.

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He said he had watched the scene repeatedly. "My assessment is that it wasn't a spontaneous reaction to interventions by Zelensky, but apparently an induced escalation in this meeting in the Oval Office," Mr Merz said.

He said he was "somewhat astonished by the mutual tone", but there has been "a certain continuity to what we are seeing from Washington at the moment".

"I would advocate for us preparing to have to do a great, great deal more for our own security in the coming years and decades," he said.

Even so, Mr Merz said he wanted to keep the transatlantic relationship alive.

"I would also advocate doing everything to keep the Americans in Europe," he said.