Defence minister Ruben Brekelmans has criticised US president Donald Trump for calling his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator as European leaders lined up behind Ukraine in the deepening row with Washington.

“It is of course Putin who is a dictator, and Zelensky was simply elected through free elections,” Brekelmans said while walking into the weekly cabinet meeting on Friday.

Trump’s statements, he says, are worrying, and show the president is “not well informed”.

“We must ensure that the facts remain clear throughout the discussion about Ukraine,” Brekelmans said. “And this is such a fact: Putin is a dictator, Putin has invaded Ukraine, and not the other way around.”

Trump made his statements on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, calling Zelensky “a dictator without elections.”

He’s also said that the Ukrainian president is only popular with 4 percent of Ukrainians, leading Zelensky to say Trump is living in a “disinformation bubble”.

“We have also seen that misinformation. We understand that it is from Russia.”

The Kyiv Independent is reporting that Zelensky’s popularity has increased from 52 percent to 57 percent the past couple of months.