Zelenskyy reacts to Maduro arrest: US 'knows what to do next'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy weighed successful Saturday connected nan U.S. seizure of erstwhile Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, telling reporters that Washington "knows what to do next."

Zelenskyy was speaking to reporters successful Kyiv aft gathering pinch nationalist information advisors from personnel states of nan Coalition of nan Willing erstwhile he was asked astir nan stunning U.S. subject cognition that unfolded successful nan early greeting hours successful Caracas.

"Regarding Venezuela? How should we respond to this?" Zelenskyy asked successful Ukrainian. "Well, what tin I opportunity is, if you tin do that pinch dictators, past nan United States knows what to do next," he said pinch a smile.

U.S. forces took Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their compound, wherever they were boarded onto nan USS Iwo Jima and flown to New York to look national charges.

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Federal rule enforcement unit guidelines watch extracurricular nan Metropolitan Detention Center arsenic they await nan presence of captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, successful New York. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced nan seizure of Maduro and his wife, urging nan Trump management to merchandise nan "legitimately elected president of a sovereign state and his spouse."

In a superseding indictment released Saturday by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Maduro is charged pinch starring a narco-terrorism conspiracy tied to large-scale cocaine trafficking into nan United States, on pinch related supplier importation and weapons offenses.

Flores is besides charged successful nan aforesaid indictment pinch participating successful a decades-long cocaine trafficking conspiracy and related firearms offenses.

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The charges build connected anterior indictments from 2020.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro gestures adjacent to his woman Cilia Flores arsenic they time off nan Capitolio, location of nan National Assembly, aft taking nan oath during nan statesmanlike inauguration successful Caracas connected Jan. 10, 2025. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)

Chairman of nan Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine said nan mission, dubbed "Operation Absolute Resolve," progressive more than 150 aircraft and a coordinated effort by nan U.S. military, intelligence agencies, and rule enforcement to apprehend nan duo.

"This cognition is simply a testament to nan dedication and unwavering committedness to justness and our resoluteness to clasp accountable those who frighten bid and stability," he said astatine a Mar-a-Lago property convention alongside President Donald Trump and different Cabinet officials.

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Trump told reporters he ne'er said pinch Russian President Vladimir Putin astir Maduro. 

"I'm not thrilled pinch Putin. He's sidesplitting excessively galore people," nan president said erstwhile asked whether he was upset astatine nan Russian leader.

President Donald Trump speaks astatine his Mar-a-Lago club, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, successful Palm Beach, Fla. (Alex Brandon/AP)

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Moscow has continued pounding Kyiv pinch large-scale drone and rocket attacks arsenic nan Trump management useful to unafraid a imaginable bid statement to extremity nan astir four-year war.

"Russia has not shown a genuine willingness to prosecute peace. Instead, it continues its fierce war, violence, and destabilization, utilizing negotiations arsenic a maneuver to bargain time,"  Zelenskyy said during nan Coalition of nan Willing meeting, according to a connection from his office. "It employs provocations and manipulations to derail advancement successful nan bid process,"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.