Trump criticizes Zelenskyy over Ukraine land swap objections amid Putin talks

President Donald Trump took aim at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a press event on Monday over his frustration with the Ukrainian leader’s objection to “land swapping.”

“I get along with Zelenskyy, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done, very, very severely, disagree. This is a war that should have never happened,” Trump said, reiterating his belief that the Ukrainian president is in part at fault for Russia’s illegal 2022 invasion.

“I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval’,” Trump said. “I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap, because there’ll be some land swapping going on.”

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President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody,” Trump added, noting it was “for the good of Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy – who did not declare war on Russia, as Moscow had already invaded, did declare Martial Law on Feb. 24, 2022 with the approval of Ukraine’s parliament, which gave him presidential powers to mobilize a military response — made clear over the weekend that he objected to Trump’s “land swapping” proposal and has repeatedly said it would require a national referendum under the nation’s constitution, not a unilateral decision by him. 

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference during the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 at Roma Convention Center La Nuvola on July 10, 2025 in Rome. (Antonio Masiello/Getty Image)

Trump wouldn’t detail what exactly he hopes to get out of the meeting with Putin and described it as a “feel-out meeting,” saying within “the first two minutes [he’ll] know exactly whether or not a deal can be made.”

“I’m going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I’m going to be telling him, you got to end this war, you got to end it,” Trump said, reiterating his belief that if he had won the 2020 election, Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine, saying “he wasn’t going to mess with me.”

President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands at the beginning of a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

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“I go into that thing fully loaded right up there, and we’re going to see what happens,” he continued. “It could be a good meeting, and we’ll go a step further. We’ll get it done. 

“I’d like to see a ceasefire very, very quickly, very quick,” he continued. “And, we’re going to be dealing with the European leaders and, we’re going to be dealing with President Zelensky and hopefully we’re going to have a great success.”