After Week Of Criticism, Trump Plays Nice — For Now — With Zelenskyy

President Donald Trump is playing nice with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of his visit on Friday, after a week of feuding with the wartime leader.

Trump said Thursday he and Zelenskyy have had a “very good relationship,” while speaking with reporters in the Oval Office.

The president had fired increasingly caustic barbs at Zelenskyy, as the president’s frustration with the war mounts. He first mocked Zelenskyy for being "grossly incompetent” and seemingly put the blame on Ukraine for the war Russia started. Zelenskyy hit back saying Trump was “surrounded by misinformation.” Trump then slammed Zelenskyy as “a dictator without elections” in a lengthy post on Truth Social last Wednesday, while repeating his claims that the U.S. has given billions in aid to Ukraine and that half of it has gone “missing.”

Trump loyalists, including Elon Musk, had also piled on, denouncing the Ukrainian leader following Trump’s Truth Social post.

When asked Thursday in the Oval Office if he still believed Zelenskyy is a dictator, Trump replied, “Did I say that? I can't believe I said that.”

“It maybe got a little bit testy,” Trump said. “We want to work with him and we will work with him.”

It’s a change in tune from Trump, after launching his pressure campaign against Zelenskyy and sparking fears among European leaders that Trump was aligning the U.S. with Russia.

Zelenskyy is set to visit to the White House Friday, where he and Trump are expected to sign a deal that would secure U.S. access to Ukraine’s “rare earths” — natural minerals that are essential for building advanced technology like electric vehicles — in exchange for the billions sent to Ukraine’s war effort.

Trump said Thursday he’s had good talks with both Ukraine and Russia, and that “we’re very well advanced on the deal.”

He also highlighted his positive relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding he’s known him for a long time and that they went through the “Russia hoax” together, referencing the claims of Russian collusion to influence the 2016 election. Trump added he is confident Putin will make a deal and stick to it.

“I don't believe he's going to violate his word,” Trump said of Putin. “When we make a deal. I think the deal is going to hold.”

On Wednesday, Zelenskyy called the impending “rare earths” agreement with the U.S. a “beginning” — but that this alone will not be the agreement that ends the war.

The Ukranian leader has signaled multiple times that any deal for peace in Ukraine must include security guarantees to prevent Russia from re-invading the country. This is also the tension point underlining Thursday’s visit from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who’s concerned that a European presence in Ukraine may not be enough to stop Russia.

Trump stopped short of calling for boots on the ground in Ukraine, but said the presence of U.S. workers in the mineral-rich Eastern European country could serve as a deterrent against Russian aggression.

“It’s a backstop, you could say,” Trump told reporters. “I don't think anybody's going to play around if we're there with a lot of workers and having to do with rare Earths and other things, which we need for our country.”