The insult Vladimir Zelensky proffered at Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a middle finger” to US President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for an end to hostilities in the Ukraine conflict, Dmitry Medvedev has said.

On Thursday, Zelensky used social media to insult Putin, calling him a “dumbass” after the Russian leader proposed a “high-tech duel” involving Moscow’s Oreshnik missile system and Western air defenses.

In response, Medvedev, who is the deputy chairman of Russia’s National Security Council, wrote on Telegram on Friday that the leader of a large country has a responsibility to be “extremely polite and cordial,” which is something he knows from “personal experience.”

However, Zelensky, acting like “the most vile Bandera scum,” decided to “show off his coolness through public insults,” Medvedev said, noting that this behaviour was not because the Ukrainian leader’s “nerves gave out” after Putin’s duel proposal.

In his view, Zelensky’s behaviour and insults towards Putin were a “middle finger which the expired drug addict scum showed to Trump,” as if to say “no negotiations with Russia, because with such relations they are impossible. You will continue to give us money and weapons.”

Medvedev also recalled that Putin stated during his annual Q&A that Moscow would be willing to negotiate with Zelensky, so long as he formally restores his legitimacy through elections.

“The runt understands that this is unrealistic and is betting on war. But the unbridled bastard was wrong here too: no one needs him in the war and he won’t hold on to his post for long. History will soon dump him in a cesspool of filth,” Medvedev wrote.

The Ukrainian leader’s remarks have also drawn criticism from the Kremlin, where spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested that Zelensky lacked composure under pressure. “It appears to be the result of emotional overload, an inability to pull himself together, hence this rudeness. His nerves are failing,” Peskov said.