Russia's Foreign Ministry says Zelensky's trip to the US was a failure.
A spokesperson described the behavior at the White House as "outrageously rude" and said the Ukrainian president was "a shameless cynic."
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Foreign Ministry assessed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's trip to Washington on Friday was a political and diplomatic failure and that he is obsessed with continuing to wage war.
Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump clashed at a White House meeting on Friday, bringing ties between Kiev and the United States – its main military backer – to their lowest point since the start of the war.
"The visit (...) to Washington on February 28 is a complete political and diplomatic failure of the Kiev regime," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a written statement published Saturday on the ministry's website.
She described Zelenskiy's behavior in the White House as "outrageously rude" and said the Ukrainian president was "a shameless cynic" whose main goal was to cling to power.
"To achieve this, he destroyed the opposition, built a totalitarian state, and ruthlessly sent millions of citizens to their deaths," Zakharova said.
Kyiv had already rejected such accusations.
Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, reacted with glee to Friday's confrontation at the White House.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev said Zelenskiy had received a "solid slap" at the meeting, during which Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of being disrespectful to the U.S.
Zelenskiy saw the meeting as a chance to convince the US not to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin and openly challenged Trump about his softer approach toward the Russian leader.
