US President Donald Trump made scathing remarks against the media on Wednesday ahead of his Friday meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, accusing the media of being “unfair” and likening them to “sick and dishonest people.”

Trump previously floated the idea of “swapping” Ukrainian territories during the upcoming talks, an idea firmly rejected by Kyiv and Europe as they are all Ukrainian territories.

Some have also likened the meeting, which provided an audience with Putin on US soil, as a political victory for the Russian leader.

In response to the recent coverage, Trump lambasted the media for being “unfair,” arguing that it portrays him in a negative light no matter what he does.

“Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin. Constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton, who just said that, even though the meeting is on American soil, ‘Putin has already won,’” Trump wrote at the beginning of his rant on Truth Social.

“We are winning on EVERYTHING,” he added.

Bolton, who previously served as Trump’s national security advisor during his first term, described the upcoming meeting as a “great victory for Putin” in a recent remark, as per The Hill.

Trump then went on to say that even if he “got Moscow and Leningrad free,” he would still be criticized.

“The Fake News is working overtime (No tax on overtime!). If I got Moscow and Leningrad free, as part of the deal with Russia, the Fake News would say that I made a bad deal!” he added.

Leningrad – which is also Putin’s hometown – was renamed back to St. Petersburg after the fall of the USSR.

Trump then accused the media of being “sick and dishonest people” who are corrupted and “probably hate our Country.”

“But now they’ve been caught. Look at all of the real news that’s coming out about their CORRUPTION. They are sick and dishonest people, who probably hate our Country. But it doesn’t matter because we are winning on everything!!!” Trump concluded.

Kyiv Post retained Trump’s unconventional capitalization from his social media post.

Trump had earlier vowed to impose sanctions and secondary tariffs should Moscow fail to move towards a ceasefire by last Friday, Aug. 8, which resulted in no actions despite a lack of progress from Moscow.

Instead, following a visit by Trump’s envoy to Moscow, a direct meeting between Trump and Putin was agreed for Aug. 15.

Despite Kyiv’s months-long call for a direct audience between Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky in a bid to end the war, Zelensky was not invited to the Alaska talks.

Although Trump had openly floated the idea of a so-called land swap with Putin, both the White House and State Department on Tuesday downplayed the message by calling the Alaska talks a “listening exercise” rather than direct negotiations.