TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — A disagreement between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is brewing.
U.S. officials and Russian officials met to discuss ending the war. No Ukrainian officials were there, however.
"They said we weren't invited, well you've been there for three years. You could've ended it then. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal," President Trump said about President Zelenskyy's critique.
Ukraine did not start the war. The country was invaded by Russia almost three years ago, on February 24, 2022.
President Zelenskyy responded, saying that while he respects President Trump and Americans, "he lives in this disinformation space".
The jabs continued when President Trump posted to social media, calling Zelenskyy a dictator and saying the U.S. was duped out of $350 billion in aid to Ukraine.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2025
The back and forth between the two world leaders is disappointing to Jonathan Epstein.
"I'm patriotic and I'm a Trump supporter. At the same time, I support Ukraine wholeheartedly, and I think what he's doing is wrong," Epstein said.
ABC Action News first talked to Epstein back in 2023. He opened his home up to Kristina Mordik and Anna Datsko, two teenagers who lost their parents during the war.
They were part of a group of 14 kids getting a temporary vacation from war to be kids. The nonprofit Ukraine Aid Fund, helped make it happen.
"I see those girls in my dreams all the time, and I get emotional," Epstein said.
We asked Epstein if he's been in contact with the girls in the last couple of years.
"For all we know they're dead," he said. "I don't know if they're alive or they're dead. It's heartbreaking."
Epstein's grandparents moved to the United States from Ukraine. His wife was born and raised in Ukraine.
"I'm torn. I'm an American and I'm patriotic. I'm also married to a Ukrainian woman who feels that the rug has been pulled out from under them," he said. "She's scared. She's scared that her homeland will become part of Russia. They fought so hard for independence. I don't really understand how anybody in America cannot support a democracy that wants to be free."
Right now, it's a war of words between the two. But, President Trump has made it clear that he wants the war between Ukraine and Russia to end sooner rather than later. Epstein shared his thoughts on what could happen.
"I do believe that [Trump] sees it as Russia has more opportunity to provide things to the United States than the Ukraine does, which is, I don't think is true. And then he realized that the Ukraine has all these mineral rights that we need, these rare minerals. So the Ukraine does have something of great value to him," he said.
But Epstein feels like without U.S. aid, Ukraine won't win this war.
"I can support President Trump's economic policy. I can support his immigration policies. But that doesn't mean I have to say, 'oh my god, you can destroy the country that you've already pledged to support for years'."
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