The Swedish prime minister on Wednesday described US President Donald Trump’s “dictator” label on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “incorrect.”
Speaking to the media in Stockholm, Ulf Kristersson said: “President Zelensky is democratically elected. I think nobody wants elections more than Ukraine, because elections would mean that there is peace in Ukraine and that they can run their country again.”
“On Ukraine, Europe and the world are currently at a crossroads,” he said, adding: “How the war against Ukraine will end will affect and shape the security of the whole of Europe for generations to come.”
His remarks came after the second urgent talks led by France on Ukraine ended amid concerns sparked by the US-Russia talks.
Trump on Wednesday called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator without elections” and warned that he “better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
He posted on Truth Social hours after Zelenskyy hit back at his suggestion that Kyiv “should have never started” the war, saying the US president was living in a Russian “disinformation bubble.”
Trump has advanced negotiations to end the three-year-long war in Ukraine, without the participation of Kyiv and other European governments.
He said Europe has failed to bring peace in Ukraine, and the US was successfully negotiating an end to the war.