Donald Trump continued his harsh criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, portraying him as a "dictator", after being accused by the Ukrainian president of living in a Russian "disinformation space".

The two heads of state of countries considered allies exchanged these unprecedented personal attacks the day after the Russian-American discussions in Saudi Arabia, the first at the level of the heads of diplomacy of the United States and Russia since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“A dictator without elections, Zelensky should hurry up or he won’t have a country left,” Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job,” he added.

The term of Ukraine's president, elected in 2019, was due to expire in May 2024, but Ukraine has not held elections due to war and martial law, with millions of Ukrainians fleeing abroad and 20% of the territory under Russian occupation.

"It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelensky his democratic legitimacy," responded German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country is another ally of Ukraine.

The day after a first salvo of criticism from Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky accused his American counterpart of living "in a space of Russian disinformation."

He also said the US administration was helping Vladimir Putin "emerge from years of isolation", with the Russian president having been treated as a pariah by the West since 2022.

He was responding to statements by Donald Trump, who on Tuesday contested his legitimacy and his desire to find a solution to the conflict, and appeared to hold him responsible for the invasion of his country.

The US president's remarks have shocked Ukraine. "I have the impression that Trump is afraid of Putin," reacted Ivan Banias, a 51-year-old military man interviewed by AFP in kyiv.

Also living in the Ukrainian capital, Svitlana Oleksandrivna, 65, said she was "surprised" by these statements: "He is so strong (...) and his stories are completely Muscovite, as if the Kremlin wrote everything to him."

The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, judged for his part that the American president was "accustomed to speaking frankly": "People like him generally do not hide what they think of pathetic individuals like Mr. Zelensky."

- "Trust" -

Vladimir Putin, for his part, welcomed the resumption of Russian-American dialogue, a few hours after the meeting between the heads of Russian and American diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio, in Saudi Arabia.

"Without strengthening the level of trust between Russia and the United States, it is impossible to resolve many problems, including the Ukrainian crisis," he said.

Messrs. Rubio and Lavrov have notably agreed to negotiate on Ukraine, without inviting kyiv or the Europeans, who fear an agreement behind their backs and against their interests.

"I will be happy to meet Donald (Trump, editor's note) (...). And I think he will too," added Vladimir Putin, specifying however that he could not say within how long such a meeting could be organized.

The Russian head of state also accused the Ukrainians and Europeans of being opposed to talks.

The task of explaining Washington's position now falls to US special envoy Keith Kellogg, who arrived in kyiv on Wednesday. Adopting a conciliatory tone, he said he understood Ukraine's need for "security guarantees."

- Meeting in Paris -

Donald Trump has again assured that the United States is "successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia." "Something that - everyone admits - only +TRUMP+ and the Trump administration can do," he said.

On the contrary, Europe "has failed to bring peace," he denounced.

Two days after a first informal mini-summit at the Elysée with seven European countries, including the United Kingdom, French President Emmanuel Macron brought together 19 heads of state and government from EU and NATO member countries (Norway, Canada, Iceland) by videoconference on Wednesday to try to find a common position on Ukraine and collective defense.

Among the grievances against kyiv, Mr Trump said Washington had "given 350 billion" dollars to Ukraine since the start of the war, and accused Mr Zelensky of not knowing "where half the money was".

The IfW Kiel Economic Institute estimates US aid at $114.2 billion since 2022.

On the ground, Vladimir Putin claimed on Wednesday that "fighters from the 810th Russian brigade" had crossed the border between Russia and Ukraine during the night. Statements described as a "lie" by Ukraine.

According to the Russian state news agency Tass, the troops came from the Russian region of Kursk, where fighting has been going on since the summer, with kyiv's forces occupying several hundred square kilometres there.

The Ukrainian army believes that a Russian unit did launch an attack towards the border but was repelled: "The attempt was a failure. There is no reason to panic," it wrote.