US President Donald Trump has hit out at Ukraine's leaders, accusing them of being ungrateful for American support during Russia's invasion
The post prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to later comment that he was "personally" grateful to the US president, as Ukrainian, European and American negotiators met in Geneva to discuss a US-led peace plan to end the fighting.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump also hit out at Europe for continuing to buy Russian oil.
"UKRAINE "LEADERSHIP" HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS, AND EUROPE CONTINUES TO BUY OIL FROM RUSSIA," Mr Trump posted.
[EL: Zelenskyy post]Mr Trump also wrote that the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, would have never happened with "strong and proper" US and Ukrainian leadership.
His predecessor Joe Biden was in office when Russia ordered its troops into Ukraine.
Mr Trump also lamented the "human catastrophe" of the war, but did not directly criticise Moscow.
"I INHERITED A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, A WAR THAT IS A LOSER FOR EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE SO NEEDLESSLY DIED," he wrote.
In his response on social media platform X, Mr Zelenskyy said blame for the conflict should be directed at Russia and its president Vladimir Putin.
He also sought to reassure the US president he was thankful for American support.
"Ukraine is grateful to the United States, to every American heart, and personally to President Trump for the assistance that — starting with the Javelins — has been saving Ukrainian lives," he wrote.
Europe proposes alternative peace plan
Mr Trump post, put online on Sunday morning local time, came after the US presented Ukraine with a 28-point peace plan on Friday.
The plan calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and renounce ambitions to join NATO, echoing many demands Russia has made in recent years.
The Trump administration has given Mr Zelenskyy until Thursday to accept the plan or face the withdrawal of US support and intelligence sharing.
The Ukrainian president responded by saying his country faced the choice of either losing its dignity or losing the backing of a key ally.
European leaders have voiced alarm at the plan, and gathered on Sunday in the Swiss city of Geneva to discuss it.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were due to attend the talks.
An alternative peace plan put forward by the UK, France and Germany at the summit pushed back on proposed limits to Kyiv's armed forces and territorial concessions, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The document proposes that Ukraine's military be capped at 800,000 "in peacetime" rather than a blanket cap of 600,000 proposed by the US plan.
It proposes that Ukraine receive a security guarantee from the United States similar to NATO's Article 5 clause.
And it further suggests "negotiations on territorial swaps will start from the Line of Contact" between Ukrainian and Russian forces, rather than pre-determining that certain areas should be recognised as "de facto Russian", as the US plan suggests.
Since the plan was announced, there has been considerable confusion about who was involved in drawing it up. European allies said they had not been consulted.
Speaking after several rounds of talks between Ukraine and the US, Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said the latest version of the US draft plan for ending the war in Ukraine now included most of Kyiv's "key priorities".
"The current version of the document, although still in the final stages of approval, already reflects most of Ukraine's key priorities," he said.
"We look forward to further progress throughout the day."
ABC/wires
