Colombian President Gustavo Petro slammed his US counterpart Donald Trump on Wednesday over recent statements he made regarding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including one referring to him as a "dictator."
Petro said on his X account that Zelenskyy and Europe were betrayed by the US.
"I decided with the majority of Latin American governments to remain neutral in the Russia-Ukraine war. This is a war between brothers, armed by powers external to the Slavic communities. Now Zelenskyy and Europe are betrayed by the US, which involved them in the war in the first place," he wrote.
Petro's statements followed Trump's characterization of Ukraine's president as a "dictator," which came hours after Zelenskyy accused Trump of repeating Russian disinformation.
Earlier, Trump announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin talks to negotiate an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, elected president in 2019, was scheduled to participate in a presidential election in April 2024, but it was not held due to the war.
In his message, Petro said the war was driven by economic interests related to fossil fuels.
"How many hundreds of thousands of young Russians and Ukrainians died because of oil and gas: the dying fossil economy?" he said.
He further suggested that "an alliance of oil countries is insinuating itself at the forefront of the world."
"If the political leaders of oil countries dominate the world, then human and life-long extinction will accelerate its progress," he added.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric also criticized Trump on Wednesday, saying that Trump is asking Ukraine to "accept the conditions of its invader," and that is "unacceptable."
"A country invades the sovereign territory of your country. You defend yourself. A few years later, the president of another country that supported you at the beginning (with another president) tells you that you started the war, so you have to accept the conditions of the invasion and also return the help delivered, and pressures the whole world to do that," said Boric, who has supported Ukraine and met with Zelenskyy on several occasions.
"In Chile, numerous columnists and commentators will deem such a statement 'inconvenient.' But what is the purpose of our presence if not to defend our convictions?" he added.
