From 'the greatest salesman' to 'very honorable': Trump changes tack on Ukraine's president

He loves him, he loves him not?

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump continues to keep people guessing over his position on Ukraine — and over his opinion of the country's wartime leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In Trump's much-hyped interview with X owner Elon Musk on Monday, the former president raised eyebrows when he said that "there's nobody that feels worse about the Ukraine situation than I do," given his previous hints that he could cut Ukraine's vital war funding if elected to the White House in November.

The GOP candidate also described Zelenskyy as "very honorable" in his handling of a telephone call that led to Trump's first impeachment in 2019.

During the now-infamous phone conversation in July 2019, Trump told the newly elected Zelenskyy — then a political novice — that he would like him to "do us a favor" by helping to investigate Trump's Democratic political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had business dealings in Ukraine.

The call prompted allegations that Trump had improperly sought help from Ukraine to boost his chances of reelection in 2020, and Trump was impeached in late 2019 as a result. He was acquitted after a two-week Senate trial in early 2020, however, and vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

At the time, Zelenskyy said there was no blackmail involved in the call with Trump.

Speaking to Musk during an interview streamed on social media platform X on Monday, Trump referenced the incident, stating: "Zelenskyy, he was very honorable to me because when they went with the Russia hoax and they said I had a phone call with him, he said it was a perfect phone call, it was a great phone call."

Trump added, "He could have grandstanded and said, 'Oh, he was very threatening.' [But] He said,