By Andrew Osborn and Mark Trevelyan
(Reuters) -Senior Russian politicians have reacted with glee to what they see as Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s White House humiliation at the hands of Donald Trump, saying the Ukrainian leader got what he deserved and that U.S. military aid to Kyiv must now be cut.
The acrimonious shouting match could be helpful to Moscow, which is working to build ties with Trump’s new administration while trying to discredit Zelenskiy and undermine the legitimacy of someone they accuse of wanting to continue the war to stay in power at any cost, something Zelenskiy rejects.
Hardline nationalist TV commentator Vladimir Solovyov on Friday announced a special show devoted to what he called “Zelenskiy’s suicide in the White House”.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said Zelenskiy, who was accused by Trump and Vice President JD Vance of being disrespectful towards the United States, had received a “solid slap”.
“A brutal dressing down in the Oval Office,” Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, posted on Telegram.
He said the Ukrainian leader had finally been told the truth to his face that, as he put it, “the Kyiv regime is playing with World War Three.” It was not enough though, said Medvedev, saying military aid to Ukraine should now be halted, something Moscow has long pushed for.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was a miracle that Trump and Vance had restrained themselves from hitting Zelenskiy during the Oval Office clash.
In a statement on Saturday, Zakharova said Zelenskiy had behaved boorishly during what she said was a total political and diplomatic failure for Kyiv.
It was time, she suggested, for Europe, like Washington, to realise who it was dealing with.
“The sobering beating given by the American president to Zelenskiy in the White House, unprecedented in the history of international politics and diplomacy, is also evidence of the political weakness and utter moral degradation of those European leaders who continue to advocate supporting the mad leader … who has lost touch with reality,” said Zakharova.
Russia has long portrayed Zelenskiy as an unstable and self-obsessed U.S. puppet who was used by the previous Biden administration to try to inflict a strategic defeat on Moscow by “fighting to the last Ukrainian.”
Zelenskiy has rejected that characterisation, saying he is doing all he can to defend his country from Russia with help from Ukraine’s allies.
Moscow’s rapid rapprochement with Washington under Trump has worried Ukraine and its European allies, who fear that Trump and President Vladimir Putin could cut a deal that leaves them sidelined and undermines their security.
Putin has said repeatedly that Zelenskiy is not a legitimate leader because his five-year term expired last year. Ukraine has been unable to hold elections because it has been under martial law since full-scale war erupted in February 2022.
Former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov said the Oval Office clash was likely to accelerate the end of Zelenskiy’s political career, who Zakharova said was not capable of agreeing a peace deal.
“The main conclusion that everyone has drawn from the public scandal of Zelenskiy and Trump is that Zelenskiy is completely out of line and should step down from the presidency as soon as possible,” said Markov.
Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy chairman of Russia’s upper house of parliament, said the bruising encounter had shown Zelenskiy in his true colours.
“Zelenskiy lost this round with a deafening rattle. And he will have to crawl to the next one on his knees,” Kosachyov wrote on Telegram.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Andrew Osborn; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
