Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended President Trump’s frustration with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky amid ongoing peace negotiations involving their war with Russia and shared that the previous administration had “frustrations” with the Ukrainian leader.

MIAMI — President Donald Trump on Wednesday called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” lashing out after the Ukrainian president said Trump was being influenced by Russian disinformation as he moves to end the Kremlin's war against Ukraine on terms that Kyiv says are too favorable to Moscow.

The leaders appeared to talk past each other, with Trump skipping over the well-documented understanding of how U.S. aid is counted and where it is spent.

I think Ukrainians are more worried than ever about the pressure they’re being put under and now, of course, supporters of President Trump - apologists for the way he works - say that he throws out verbal gambits to make people drop long-held positions to make a deal.

While Trump has slammed Zelensky as a "dictator," his envoy took a sharply different tone after their Kyiv meeting on Thursday.