Donald Trump Jr took a swipe at Volodymyr Zelensky after sharing a social media post suggesting that the Ukrainian president was just weeks away from losing his “allowance” – a reference to US military funding for fighting Vladimir Putin’s.
President-elect Donald Trump has staunchly criticized the Biden Administration spending more than $64 billion in providing security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of the nation in February 2022, according to figures from the US Department of State.
On Sunday, Trump’s eldest son mocked Zelensky in a social media tirade, teasing that Ukraine’s military aid budget was about to be abolished.
The outspoken political scion shared an Instagram post by former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, as per screenshots taken by the Daily Beast, with the caption: “POV: You’re 38 Days from losing your allowance.”
The clip shows the Ukrainian president looking stoney-faced as he stands next to Trump, before the screen turns black and black and white and dollar bills cascade from the ceiling.
The 38 days comment is thought to make reference to December 17, the day electors in each state meet to cast their votes for President and Vice President based on the results counted on Election Day.
Sharing a separate post on X on Sunday, Trump Jr also backed calls to keep “neocons and war hawks” out of the White House, hours after Trump ruled out former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – who are both pro-Ukraine – from having a position in his cabinet.
Trump has attempted to foster relations with both the Ukrainian and Russian presidents since he defeated vice president Kamala Harris at the ballot box last week.
The president-elect had a 25-minute phone call with Zelensky on Wednesday, with a source telling Axios that the exchange went well and “didn’t leave Zelensky with a feeling of despair”.
On Thursday, the soon-to-be 47th president also spoke with Putin. Trump is said to have advised the Russian president not to escalate the war in Ukraine further, several sources close with the matter told The Washington Post.
One source said Trump expressed interest in having a follow-up call with Putin to discuss “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon”.
The Kremlin denied reports on Monday. "This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it's just false information," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "There was no conversation."
"This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications," Peskov said.
At a Detroit campaign rally In June, Trump described Zelensky as “maybe the greatest salesman of any politician that’s ever lived”.
“Every time he comes to our country, he walks away with $60 billion,” Trump continued before later adding: “I will have that settled prior to taking the White House as president-elect.”
Trump repeated the claim in a separate stump speech at a Pennsylvania campaign stop in September, just days before meeting Zelensky at Trump Tower in New York City.
After their meeting, Ukrainian leader said he believed they shared a “common view that the war has to be stopped and Putin can’t win”.
With just 70 days until Trump is due to take office, the Biden Administration is said to be planning the remaining $6 billion in congressionally-allotted aid to Kyiv.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Ukraine-Russia war “would not have happened” if he remained in office in 2020. He has continued to claim that he would end Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in just a single day.
Questions remain how Trump is set to resolve the conflict, and he is yet to explain how he would do so.
