US President Donald Trump has demanded that Ukraine explain where the $350 billion in aid Washington allocated was spent or return the funds. At a press conference in Mar-a-Lago, Trump said he had no information on how the money was used and expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of transparency. He also stressed that Europe had contributed much less to supporting Ukraine, despite its geographical proximity to the conflict. 

"Ukraine must explain where our money went or return it" — Trump said, adding that the need for elections in Ukraine comes not from Russia, but from him personally and from many other countries.

According to him, the current President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has an approval rating of 4%, which is an extremely low figure. 

Trump also pointed to the devastating state of Ukrainian cities, noting that many of them are in ruins. He claims that Russia could destroy Kyiv completely, but does not do so, limiting itself to 20% of the destruction.

According to Trump, if Ukraine wants to participate in peace talks, it must hold elections and receive the approval of citizens. He emphasized that the lack of elections is not a demand of Russia, but his personal opinion and the position of a number of other countries. 

Trump also criticized Zelensky for his recent statement that Ukraine was not invited to the negotiating table.

"You've been in this for three years. You should have ended this three years ago. You should have never started. You could have made a deal.", the American leader said.

According to him, if Zelensky had acted differently, Ukrainian cities would have remained intact, people would not have died, and the country would have retained almost all of its territories. 

Meanwhile, in Russia, Trump's statements were perceived as confirmation of the crisis of trust between Kiev and the West. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that Zelensky found himself "in a corner" and his further actions could be unpredictable.