JD Vance’s cousin criticizes him for ‘belittling’ Zelensky

The cousin of the American vice president JD Vance has criticized him and President Donald Trump for “belittling” Volodymyr Zelensky during the confrontation of the Oval Office of three men in February.

“There is a certain level of decorum that I hope from political leaders, especially in front of the cameras,” Nate Vance told the BBC PM program on Monday.

Follow the comments he made in an interview in which he said that Trump and Vance were acting as “useful idiots” for President Vladimir Putin in his management of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Last month, US officials made direct conversations with Moscow to finish the three -year war. American and Ukrainian officials are currently in Saudi Arabia to discuss a peace agreement.

Nate Vance, who spent three years as a volunteer with the Ukrainian army after Russia’s invasion in 2022, said “was not happy” with the way their cousin and Trump had handled the White House meeting.

“I am a little attached to the Ukrainian issue, but, looking that, if it were any other completely neutral problem and I saw the White House officials and hacking journalists who are politicians belittling a foreign leader, it would be like ‘What the hell is happening?'” He told the BBC.

He Television Oval Office Meeting Among the leaders they quickly put heated, and Trump threatened to withdraw the support of Ukraine if an agreement was not reached and accused the Ukrainian president of “Games of chance with World War I”.

Vance called Zelensky “disrespectful” for “litigating” the dispute against the media And he accused him of not expressing his gratitude for the support of the United States during the war.

Nate Vance said he did not agree that Zelensky could not show appreciation. “Zelensky does a daily or nocturnal direction and thanks everyone who supports Ukraine daily,” he said.

He said that perhaps the Ukrainian leader had not shown “sufficient deference to Donald Trump”, but that it would be “strange to my cousin and Donald Trump ask for deference because they have been actively working against their initiatives during the last three years.”

Finally, Zelensky was asked to leave the White House and an planned press conference was canceled.

After the meeting, the Trump administration Military aid stopsatellite images and Intelligence exchange To kyiv.

An American reporter during the meeting at the White House Zelensky accused of disrespecting the occasion by not wearing a suit. Since the beginning of the war, Zelensky has avoided the costumes for the military style dress in what he says is solidarity with the soldiers.

“Everyone knows that is why it does and is something symbolic,” said Nate Vance. “Who cares? It’s a silly hill to die. And talking about that, why is Elon Musk in the oval office with a baseball hat and a shirt all the time?”

In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday, Nate Vance said that his cousin was a “intelligent guy”, but that the meeting with Zelensky was “an ambush of absolute bad faith.”

Later he told the Prime Minister’s program that he had been a “Republican my whole life, so this is a strange position for me to take, but I love a lot and it is a problem in which I think we are doing wrong.”

He said it was unlikely that his cousin would like to talk to him following his comments.

When asked about the vision of other Americans about the meeting, he said that 20% would be “discouraged” and that “all this alienation is isolating us and the last time we decided to take an isolationist path that we ended with the First World War and World War II.”

Subsequently, Zelensky said that the angry exchange had been “unfortunate” and that it was “time to do things well.”

The United States is trying to mediate with Russia and Ukraine in the hope of ending the war.

Last week, Trump said it was “To do very well with Russia” and that it was “more difficult, frankly, dealing with Ukraine”.