© AP Photo / Alex Brandon; Getty Images / Toby Melville - WPA
"They're using war not to hold an election. I would think the Ukrainian people should have that choice," Trump told Politico. "They talk about having a democracy but it gets to the point where it's not a democracy anymore."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has come under political pressure in recent weeks over a corruption scandal that implicated top Ukrainian officials. After the country's watchdogs concluded that $100 million had been embezzled from the energy sector through kickbacks paid by contractors, Zelensky fired two top officials and slapped sanctions on close associates.
Zelensky has not been accused of any wrongdoing but his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, resigned following an anti-corruption raid on his home last month.
Additionally, Zelensky has found himself and Ukraine on defense as Russia seeks to make advances on Ukrainian territory and Trump administration officials struggle to broker a peace deal between the two countries.
Trump aired his frustrations over Zelensky on Sunday, saying the Ukrainian leader had not read the latest version of the peace proposals that came out of talks between U.S. officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
Zelensky said Ukraine would not budge from its longstanding opposition to ceding land to Russia after he met with European leaders on Monday.
Comment: Kiev has once again refused to withdraw its troops from Donbass:
Ukraine has not reached a compromise with US negotiators on the issue of territory in the conflict with Russia, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said.
Zelensky arrived in London on Monday, where he met with the leaders of the UK, France, and Germany. He said during the trip that Kiev would soon submit new proposals for a peace deal with Russia to US President Donald Trump.
"The Americans are in the mood to find compromises. But there are clearly difficult issues regarding territory, and no compromise has been reached there," Zelensky told journalists. He again rejected one of Russia's key ceasefire terms that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the parts of Donbass that are still under its control. "Russia is, of course, insisting that we give up territories. We, naturally, don't want to do that and that's what we're fighting for," he said.
Trump said in the Politico interview published Tuesday that he believes Russia is in a stronger negotiating position than Ukraine.
"[Zelensky] is going to have to get on the ball and start accepting things," he said, adding that they are "losing."
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