Putin Thanks Trump for 2025 Zelensky Humiliation, Urges More Shaming After Age Taunt
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Jun 6
Putin Thanks Trump for 2025 Zelensky Humiliation, Urges More Shaming After Age Taunt
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Jun 6
Summary
Putin used a St. Petersburg forum speech to thank Trump for the February 2025 Oval Office dressing-down of Zelensky and said the effort was “helpful” but should continue.
Zelensky had just published an open letter inviting direct talks while mocking Putin at 73 as weakened by age, war losses and fading leverage with Trump.
Putin answered by reviving the White House episode over Zelensky’s lack of a suit, casting it as proof that Washington and Moscow—not Kyiv—held the real cards.
The remarks came after Ukrainian long-range drone strikes near the forum and alongside a staged appearance by Trump appointee Rodney Mims Cook Jr., whom Kremlin media portrayed as a U.S. envoy.
The exchange underscored Moscow’s effort to frame Trump as receptive to pressure on Kyiv even as no formal U.S. diplomatic outreach was evident.