No, Zelenskyy doesn’t have 4% approval as Trump claims; it’s over 50%
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(LONDON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday joined Russian President Vladimir Putin in claiming Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lacks legitimacy, the American leader alleging — without providing evidence — that Zelenskyy currently has a 4% approval rating among his compatriots.
In reality, respected polls in Ukraine show that Zelenskyy has over 50% approval among Ukrainians. The most recent, published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in early February, showed that 57% of respondents said they trusted Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy’s level of support is diminished from the extraordinary highs of earlier in the war. He scored 77% trust in a KIIS poll from December 2023 and 90% in May 2022, around three months after Russia’s invasion. The February poll did show a 5% bump in trust from December 2024.
Still, the 50% or more regularly scored by Zelenskyy in various polls is higher than those achieved by many democratic leaders around the world.
Aides in Kyiv were quick to point out on Wednesday that Zelenskyy’s recent score of 57% in the KIIS poll was higher than Trump’s backing in recent U.S. surveys — for example, 46.6% with 538, 47% with YouGov/The Economist and 48% with Gallup.
There is currently no politician in Ukraine considered to have stronger support than Zelenskyy. Only Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, is considered a real potential challenger, though he is serving as Kyiv’s ambassador to the U.K. and has not yet entered politics.
Hours after historic U.S.-Russia talks concluded in Saudi Arabia, Trump suggested to reporters at Mar-a-Lago that Zelenskyy’s alleged low public approval meant the country should hold a new presidential election, its 2024 contest having been postponed because Ukraine has been under martial law since Putin’s invasion three years ago.
“That’s not a Russia thing, that’s something coming from me and coming from many other countries also,” Trump said.
Trump’s claims indicated that he — like Putin — may now be seeking Zelenskyy’s removal as part of any deal to end the war.
Putin appears to see removing Zelenskyy as a key goal, both as a victory he can present to Russians and as a potential opportunity to install a pro-Russian leader in his place. That is why the Russian president is pushing for elections to be held before any final peace deal.
Trump now appears to perhaps hold a similar view.
Zelenskyy pushed back firmly on Wednesday, fact-checking Trump and saying he was suffering from exposure to Russian disinformation.
“If someone wants to replace me right now, then right now it won’t work,” the president told reporters in Kyiv before a planned meeting with Trump’s Ukraine-Russia envoy Keith Kellogg.
“If we are talking about 4% then we have seen this disinformation, we understand that it comes from Russia,” he added. “And we have evidence.”
The president said he would conduct opinion polls for trust ratings for world leaders, including Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Zelenskyy said he took Trump’s comments “calmly.”
“As for President Trump, with all due respect to him as a leader of the American people, who we deeply respect and are thankful for all his support, but President Trump, unfortunately, is living in this disinformation space,” Zelenskyy continued.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the strip. A latest round of peace talks to end the 15-month-old war has resumed in Qatar, with high-level delegations traveling to Doha.
Meanwhile, the November ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group. Israeli forces also remain active inside the Syrian border region as victorious rebels there build a transitional government.
Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.
Israel waiting to hear back from Hamas on ceasefire agreement
Israel is currently waiting to hear back from Hamas on the most recent draft language of a ceasefire deal, sources told ABC News.
The two sides are reportedly closer to an agreement than ever before, according to a spokesperson for Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani.
“The ongoing talks in Doha regarding Gaza are fruitful, positive and focus on the final details. Meetings are underway in Doha between the parties to the agreement and we are awaiting updates from them,” the spokesperson told ABC News.
Implementation of the agreement will begin shortly after it is announced, according to the spokesperson.
Qatar expecting ceasefire deal ‘soon’
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at a Tuesday briefing that participants in the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha are close to a ceasefire deal.
“We expect the agreement to be announced soon,” the spokesperson said during the press conference.
Qatar is a key mediator between Israel and Hamas and has hosted several rounds of ceasefire talks in the capital Doha.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta
61 Palestinians killed in Gaza as ceasefire talks continue
The Gaza Ministry of Health said Tuesday that Israel Defense Forces strikes killed at least 61 Palestinians in the previous 24 hours and injured 281 more in the Hamas-run territory.
The total number of Palestinians killed since the war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, is now 46,645 with 110,012 people injured, according to the ministry.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian
Hamas says Gaza talks are in ‘final stages’
Hamas said in a statement Tuesday that ceasefire, prisoner and hostage release talks with Israel are in their “final stages,” adding it hopes “that this round of negotiations will end with a clear and comprehensive agreement.”
In a statement posted to the group’s website, Hamas said it held meetings and consultations with leaders of other Palestinian factions regarding the progress made in ongoing negotiations in Doha, Qatar.
“During these contacts, the leaders of the forces and factions expressed their satisfaction with the course of the negotiations, stressing the need for general national preparation for the next stage and its requirements,” Hamas said.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta
Israel hoping for ceasefire announcement ‘soon,’ official says
An Israeli government official told ABC News on Tuesday morning they “hope we can announce something soon” regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza.
The official said there had been “real progress” on every part of the negotiation in the last few days.
The official added that Hamas has changed and they are no longer “dictating” the terms, but are negotiating. “We are close, but not there yet,” they said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Sirens sound in central Israel after projectile launched from Yemen: IDF
A projectile was fired from Yemen towards Israel, the IDF said in a release early Tuesday morning local time.
Sirens were sounded in a number of areas in central Israel, the IDF said.
Latest on hostages in ceasefire deal
Thirty-three hostages, living and dead, are expected to be freed in the first phase of the ceasefire deal, according to a person with direct knowledge of the ongoing negotiations.
There are 94 abductees remaining in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead, according to Israeli officials.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
‘Real chance’ of ceasefire success, source says
A source close to the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar told ABC News that Israel is waiting for Hamas to approve moving into a final “closing round of negotiations,” adding there is a “real chance” for a “breakthrough” after a diplomatic blitz in Doha this weekend.
“We still have ahead of us a closing round of negotiations,” the source added
Reuters reported Monday that mediators in Qatar handed both Israel and Hamas a final draft of the ceasefire proposal, citing an official briefed on the negotiations.
Reuters reported that the official said a breakthrough was reached after talks between Steve Witkoff — President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy — the Qatari prime minister and Israeli spy chiefs.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, meanwhile, said Monday “there is progress,” and that the situation “looks much better than previously.”
“I don’t want to say more than that because I realize there are families and they are sensitive to every word, and every sentence,” Saar added. “I hope that within a short time we will see things happening, but it is still to be proved.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Guy Davies
Far-right minister says potential Gaza ceasefire deal represents ‘catastrophe’
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he will not support the potential Gaza ceasefire deal currently being negotiated in Qatar, describing it as “a catastrophe for the national security of Israel.”
“We will not be part of a surrender deal that would include releasing arch terrorists, stopping the war and destroying its achievements that were bought with much blood and abandoning many hostages,” Smotrich wrote in a post to X on Monday.
“Now is the time to continue with all our might, to occupy and cleanse the entire strip, to finally take control of humanitarian aid from Hamas and to open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders completely and all the hostages are returned.”
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
Netanyahu spoke with Biden on ceasefire and hostage deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with President Joe Biden on Sunday about progress in negotiating a ceasefire and hostage deal.
A senior White House administration official confirmed the call to ABC News.
“The Prime Minister discussed with the US President the progress in negotiations for the release of our hostages, and updated him on the mandate he gave to the negotiating delegation to Doha, in order to promote the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office wrote in a release about the call.
According to the White House, Biden and Netanyahu “discussed the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region.”
The call comes as Brett McGurk, the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, is in the Middle East for negotiations. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that McGurk is there to hammer out the “final details” of an agreement.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Michelle Stoddart
100 days of Israel’s north Gaza assault
Sunday marked 100 days since the Israel Defense Forces launched its military operation in northern Gaza, with the toll of dead and missing Palestinians now at 5,000 people, according to a report published by the Gaza media office in the Hamas-run territory.
Some 9,500 more people have been injured and 2,600 have been detained including women and children, the report said.
Israel continues striking targets across the strip. Over the last 24 hours, IDF attacks killed 24 Palestinians, according to data published by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The report added that 46,565 Palestinians have been killed by Israel throughout Gaza since the war began in October 2023, with another 109,660 people injured.
Israeli attacks in the north of Gaza have targeted civilian infrastructures and hospitals, which combined with a siege of the area have worsened a humanitarian crisis there.
Calling for an end to the war, the Gaza media office report urged the international community — including the UN — to take immediate action to stop the assault and address the humanitarian crisis in the strip.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched senior negotiators to Qatar for ceasefire, prisoner and hostage release talks attended by President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser, Steven Witkoff, and President Joe Biden’s outgoing adviser, Brett McGurk.
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Jordana Miller
High-level delegations gather in Doha for Gaza talks
For the first time in months, Israeli sources are expressing cautious optimism that a Gaza ceasefire may be within reach before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Officials close to the matter told ABC News on Sunday that a high-level Israeli delegation led by the head of the Mossad — David Barnea — arrived in Doha, Qatar, for a critical round of talks.
Others participating are Egyptian and U.S. officials including President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser, Steven Witkoff, and President Joe Biden’s outgoing adviser, Brett McGurk.
Witkoff made a surprise visit to Israel Saturday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, progress on some issues has been made — including the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released and the details of the Israel Defense Forces’ redeployment.
But some outstanding issues remain, including whether Hamas can provide Israel with a list of hostages who are alive. A Hamas official told Saudi media on Saturday that the group is ready to show flexibility.
The first phase of the deal is expected to last six to eight weeks, as the report suggests. A leaked hostage list by Hamas shows the names of two Americans to be released in the first phase. Seven Americans are among the 94 hostages, three of whom are presumed to still be alive.
LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit back at President Donald Trump’s call for the country to hold fresh presidential elections following Tuesday’s historic Russia-U.S. talks in Saudi Arabia.
The U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh — to which Ukraine was not invited — represented “an important step forward” toward ending Russia’s three-year-old invasion of its neighbor, according to a State Department readout.
Hours after the talks concluded, Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that Zelenskyy’s public approval rating was “down to 4%,” failing to provide a source for the figure. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also repeatedly framed Zelenskyy as illegitimate, citing the postponement of the country’s 2024 presidential elections due to martial law.
During a Wednesday press conference in Kyiv, Zelenskyy challenged Trump’s claim, pointing to respected recent surveys showing him polling consistently above 50% with voters and describing Trump’s assertion as Russian “disinformation.”
“If someone wants to replace me right now, then right now won’t work,” Zelenskyy said. “If we are talking about 4% then we have seen this disinformation, we understand that it comes from Russia. And we have evidence.”
The president said he would conduct opinion polls for trust ratings for world leaders, including Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Zelensky said he took Trump’s comments “calmly” and that Ukraine would help get the president out of information “isolation”.
Hours after the U.S.-Russia discussions concluded with a commitment to continue talks, Russia launched a major missile and drone barrage into Ukraine. Ukraine’s air force reported 167 drones and two Iskander ballistic missiles launched into the country, with 106 intercepted and 56 more lost in flight.
Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov reported a “massive enemy strike on a densely populated area of the city” causing electricity, heating and water outages.
Zelenskyy said in a post to social media that the strike targeted “civilian energy facilities,” in keeping with longstanding Russian doctrine. “For nearly three years now, the Russian army has relentlessly used missiles and attack drones against them,” he said.
“Just yesterday, after the notorious meeting in Riyadh, it became clear that Russian representatives were once again lying, claiming they do not target Ukraine’s energy sector,” Zelenskyy continued.
“Yet, almost simultaneously, they launched another attack, with drones striking electrical transformers,” he wrote. “And this is during winter — it was minus 6 degrees Celsius at night.”
“We must never forget that Russia is ruled by pathological liars — they cannot be trusted and must be pressured,” the president said.
Kyiv’s exclusion from the Saudi talks have badly unsettled Ukraine and its European allies. Trump was unapologetic when speaking with reporters Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, just as Odesa came under attack.
“They’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that,” Trump said of Ukraine, suggesting Kyiv could have made a deal with Moscow to avoid the huge loss of lives and land.
Trump said he believes he has “the power to end this war,” while falsely claiming Ukraine started the conflict against Russia. The war began when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, a campaign that followed eight years of cross-border Russian aggression in Crimea and Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
“I think it’s going very well,” Trump said of U.S. efforts to end the war. “But today I heard, oh, ‘Well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it three years — you should have never started it.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Zelenskyy criticized the Trump administration’s recent demand for a treaty that would hand over 50% of Ukraine’s natural resources to the U.S., in exchange for no security guarantees. Trump himself has repeatedly said he wants $500 billion worth of Ukraine’s rare minerals to pay back the U.S. for its support during Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskyy said such a demand was “not serious”, and corrected Trump’s claim that the U.S. has provided more money than Europe.
“There wasn’t a word there about security guarantees,” he said. “There is nothing precise there. I can’t sell the state.”
Zelenskyy said that if Ukraine cannot join NATO, it needs a strong army backed by Western weapons and air defense. He said Ukraine was looking for a troop contingent from European countries to help protect Ukraine after a ceasefire, but warned that Ukraine’s own troops needed to be backed by air defense, which only the U.S. can provide.
“Only the Americans, President Donald Trump, have this protection, this air defense, it’s exclusively from them, and that’s what’s important,” Zelenskyy said. “We have a map that shows us this, but we are ready for dialogue, for discussion, about what quantity, how much is needed. We’ve calculated everything; we’ve figured it all out. So this is essentially the main point of what we are requesting.”
Zelenskyy suggested on Tuesday that the U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh merely revived ultimatums issued by Moscow in the early stages of its invasion.
“I have the impression that there are now some negotiations happening and they have the same mood, but between Russia and the United States,” Zelenskyy said during a visit to Turkey.
“Again, about Ukraine without Ukraine,” he added. “It’s interesting, if Ukraine didn’t yield to ultimatums in the most difficult moment, where does the feeling come from that Ukraine will agree to this now?”
“I never intended to yield to Russia’s ultimatums and I don’t intend to now,” Zelenskyy added.
In Riyadh, the U.S. and Russia agreed to appoint as-yet unnamed special representatives to continue peace talks, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Addressing the Russian parliament on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — who led Moscow’s team in Riyadh — told lawmakers that “the atmosphere is positive, the intentions are correct, we will see how the situation develops further, what decisions will be made.”
He added, “The main thing is to meet, listen and hear, make decisions that will be realistic.”
Putin aide Yuri Ushakov told the state-controlled Channel One television channel that Trump’s Ukraine-Russia envoy — Keith Kellogg — would negotiate a settlement with Kyiv and European nations.
Kellogg arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday morning, where he is expected to hold talks with Ukrainian leaders.
Kellogg told reporters his “mission is to sit and listen” and then report back to Trump. He parried questions about whether Trump is siding with Putin, saying that Trump wants to end the war because “he understands the human suffering” it is causing.
Kellogg added that he agrees with Trump that the war would never have begun if he had been president at the time.
ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
(SEOUL) — A team of U.S. investigators arrived in South Korea to assist local aviation officials as they comb the wreckage of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft that crashed Sunday, killing 179 people.
Three members of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are leading the U.S. team, which also includes advisers from the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and CFM International, a jet-engine manufacturer. Some of those advisers will be on site and others will remain in the U.S., the NTSB said.
“Additional NTSB investigative staff are standing by to assist if needed, including specialists in recorders, powerplants, and survival factors, among other specialties,” the board said in a statement.
In the wake of the deadly plane crash at Muan International Airport, local officials are also now investigating similar aircraft models that are operating in airports around the country.
Jeju Air Flight 2216 was landing just before 9 a.m. when the plane went off the runway and crashed into a wall. There were a total of 175 passengers and six crew members aboard the Boeing 737, which had taken off from Bangkok, Thailand.
A total of 179 people aboard the flight were killed, with two flight attendants — a man and a woman — being the only survivors of the crash.
Officials were continuing to identify the victims of the crash. Five of the remains were still unidentified as of Tuesday, local officials said. The remains of four individuals being transported to their respective families for funeral.
Authorities are conducting a full investigation into over 100 aircraft that are the same model, B737-800. The planes are currently operating in six local airlines, officials said.
The investigation includes reviewing the maintenance history of the engines, landing gears and the aircraft’s operation records.
“There are no plans to suspend operations, but they will examine those parts once more and check them thoroughly during the inspection process,” said Song Kyung-hoon, head of Jeju Air’s Management Support Division.
The Muan International Airport runway will be closed for the investigation until Jan. 7, officials said.
The two flight attendants who survived the crash were recovering at separate hospitals in Seoul on Monday, according to the Korean Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport.
Neither survivor had life-threatening injuries, the ministry said, adding that both had awoken in the hospital without a clear recollection of what had happened after they heard a blast during the landing.
The man, who was identified only by his surname Lee, was receiving treatment for fractures in an intensive care unit. He was alert and speaking with medical staff, Ju Woong, director of the Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, said at a press conference on Monday.
“[Lee is] fully able to communicate,” Woong added. “There’s no indication yet of memory loss or such.”
The woman, a 25-year-old flight attendant named Koo, was also recovering, though not in intensive care, according to hospital staff and officials, as well as the Korean Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport.
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
