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00:00Trump's made a series of remarks this Wednesday about Ukraine and about Vladimir Zelensky that are left many
00:06Observers almost speechless Trump called Zelensky a dictator without elections and earlier Trump said Ukraine shouldn't have started the war
00:15the remarks appear to show an ignorance over the situation in Ukraine where elections were postponed because of the war a
00:22War we remind you started when Vladimir Putin Russia's authoritarian
00:26Authoritarian president who is of course wanted by the International Criminal Court
00:30Launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine three years ago next Monday
00:35Well, that's here some of Vladimir Zelensky's replies to Donald Trump's outrageous and some would say egregious claims
00:46We have seen this
00:48disinformation
00:50We understand that it comes from Russia. We understand that
00:54And we have evidence that these numbers are being discussed between America and Russia
01:00So unfortunately president Trump who we have great respect for as the leader of the American people
01:06Whom we respect very much who supports us constantly
01:12unfortunately lives in this
01:14disinformation space
01:17Long as Lenski speaking a little earlier
01:19Let's go straight to key to get reaction Gulliver Craig our correspondent there Gulliver. Good evening
01:24I've got to start by asking you what you think of Donald Trump's words
01:30Well, it's not important what I think but what's important is to make sure that we get our facts straight because a lot of the
01:37things that Donald Trump has been saying are just plainly untrue calling Volodymyr Zelensky a
01:43Dictator is not something that anybody in Ukraine does even his really?
01:48staunchest
01:50Opponents nobody calls him a dictator
01:52Most Ukrainians agree that it's not possible to hold elections at this time and that doing so might destabilize the country and be very logistically
01:59Difficult Donald Trump also said that Volodymyr Zelensky's popularity rating was 4%
02:05It's between 42 and 57 percent according to the most recent
02:09Surveys that I've seen in any case Donald Trump also said this is getting petty and insignificant
02:15But let's note it as well that Volodymyr Zelensky is a moderately successful
02:20Comedian or was before he became president by any measure you cannot call Volodymyr Zelensky
02:26Moderately successful. He was absolutely one of the most important figures in Ukrainian entertainment history
02:31You might not think he's very funny
02:32You might not think his films are very good, but you cannot deny that he was extremely successful in his previous career
02:38Then there are these
02:40Claims about US support for Ukraine according to Volodymyr Zelensky
02:44And I believe the Ukrainians could quite easily produce the documentation to prove it and will do in short order
02:49Donald Trump is claiming that the United States have given Ukraine more aid than they really have
02:53Also claiming that the Ukrainians can't account for how it was spent
02:57They absolutely can all of these things were set out quite clearly in this press conference by Volodymyr Zelensky today
03:03Which I think means that his popularity ratings probably shot up this evening actually because people are rallying around their president even people who are normally
03:10very critical of him as saying that Donald Trump's claims are absolutely
03:13Unacceptable and also because he was calm as we heard that remaining diplomatic expressing his respect for the American people
03:19Whilst clearly stating that he could not agree with these things that Donald Trump was saying
03:24So he really rose to the occasion with that press conference earlier today
03:28Give us more of a sense Gulliver of what ordinary Ukrainians are saying about all of this. I
03:33Mean
03:35People are aghast they're really really disappointed
03:38Some of them are really surprised
03:4044% of Ukrainians back in December said they supported Donald Trump and thought that he could
03:45Bring peace on favorable terms for Ukraine a far higher percentage than the percentage in Western Europe who believed the same
03:52They are feeling insulted. I mean people who've lost families or been
03:56You know displaced from their homes
03:58This is another thing that Donald Trump said in one of his recent speeches
04:03Comparing Ukraine to Gaza saying that vast swathes of the country have been absolutely razed to the ground
04:09It's not like Gaza cities like Mariupol and Bakhmut have been completely destroyed
04:14Yes, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced
04:16But Ukraine is a huge country most of its housing stock is absolutely intact
04:21claiming that it's just a land of ruins is also just completely inaccurate and
04:26insulting to the
04:28You know people who have suffered and people are just they just can't believe it
04:32I think I think Ukrainians really had a lot of respect for
04:35the United States thought of the United States as an ally the prospect of now having to think of the United States as an
04:42Adversary is absolutely horrifying for them. Then there are disagreements
04:46I've seen you know people really laying into those Ukrainians
04:49Ukrainian Americans who voted for Trump and there are surprisingly large number of them saying how could you have been so naive?
04:54People having that kind of bickering online and then lots and lots of speculation about what this is going to mean going forward
05:01but the main reaction I've heard talking to anybody who's close to the military effort whether it's soldiers or
05:08Volunteers who are helping the army that I've been speaking to in recent days. All of them are saying we're going to carry on fighting
05:13There's no peace that Donald Trump with the Russians can impose on us that we're going to accept
05:18I don't know if you went deeper into public opinion
05:21Further away from big cities further away from people who are directly connected to the war effort if you might not find some people who
05:27Would disagree with that, but I haven't found any so far
05:30Everyone I've spoken to in any case says that Ukraine is not going to accept some kind of peace being dictated to them
05:36And we'll carry on fighting for as long as it can indeed
05:40Even people with just a passing knowledge of what is going on a lot with your depth of knowledge on the subject would know that
05:46Ukraine didn't start
05:47The war and that the amount that Trump is quoting has been spent is nothing like that the figure
05:53That has been put together by all those observing the money that has been spent on the war in Ukraine
05:57The donations by the u.s. Almost much by Europe
06:02Gulliver any thoughts on Trump's motivation for saying what he said
06:09Well what it looks like is that Trump in concert with Putin
06:13It has to be said seems to be in favor of getting rid of Volodymyr Zelensky
06:17Ousting him whether he's been convinced by the Russians of this unpopularity of all of this stuff
06:21Maybe he's been duped by the Russians or maybe they know exactly what they're doing and they're in cahoots
06:27But in a way that's irrelevant. It does very much look like both
06:30The Russians and the Americans want Ukraine to hold elections and in such a way as to get rid of Volodymyr Zelensky
06:38Why they think the Russians that that's going to deliver a good outcome for them
06:42I'm not sure and that's a topic of a lot of speculation here in Ukraine this evening because the top candidates who might
06:49Replace Volodymyr Zelensky if there were free and fair democratic elections held without major Russian interference or some kind of you know
06:58Dirty work going on behind the scenes
07:00They're all people who are even more if it's possible staunchly opposed to Vladimir Putin than Volodymyr Zelensky is
07:07I'll have a crack and Keeve as always. Thank you very much indeed. Let's bring in Kevin gorgeous, Tanya