Trump Ukraine Envoy Calls Zelenskyy ‘courageous,’ Breaking From Recent Administration Criticism

President Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy an “embattled and courageous leader” on Friday — striking a very different tone on the leader that Trump called a “dictator without elections” just earlier this week.

Special envoy Keith Kellogg, who served as national security adviser for former Vice President Mike Pence before stepping in as acting adviser for Trump during the first administration, met with the Ukrainian leader on Thursday in Kyiv. Zelenskyy posted on X that he and Kellogg discussed security guarantees Ukraine needs to prevent another Russian incursion, in a meeting he said “restores hope” that the U.S. and Ukraine can come to an agreement.

Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general, quoted the Ukrainian president’s post and added that there was “extensive and positive discussions with [Zelenskyy], the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war and his talented national security team.”

It’s a big turn from earlier in the week, when Trump slammed Zelenskyy in a post on Truth Social for not doing more to end the war in Ukraine. The president and the rest of his administration haven’t backed away from his comments on the Ukrainian leader since.

“I've had very good talks with Putin, and I've had not such good talks with Ukraine,” Trump told a group of governors and Cabinet members at the White House on Friday.

European leaders’ fears are growing that Trump will cut out Ukraine and the rest of the continent from negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But after a “long and intense day with the senior leadership of Ukraine,” Kellogg was optimistic Friday about the chances of coming to an agreement.

The Trump administration wants to gain access to Ukraine’s rare earths — precious minerals that are used in the process for making electric vehicles and electronics — to recoup the billions in aid given to the war effort, but will need to get Zelenskyy to sign off on it first.

Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said in a speech at CPAC on Friday that he believed that deal would come soon.

“Here's the bottom line, President Zelenskyy is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term,” Waltz said. “What better could you have for Ukraine than to be in an economic partnership with the United States?”

Danny Nguyen contributed to this report.