Defence Minister Judith Collins has taken the rare step of refuting Mr Trump's bombshell claims, following her fellow conservative in Australia, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
"We're clearly not of that view ... clearly Russia illegally and immorally invaded Ukraine," she told AAP.
"Zelenskiy was elected. He's been a strong wartime leader. It is entirely normal for a country that is being attacked to not stop everything and start having elections, that would be very odd thing to do."
Ms Collins is back in New Zealand after attending the Munich Security Conference earlier this week, where US Vice President JD Vance delivered an incendiary speech taking aim at Europe and Ukraine.
New Zealand is a firm supporter of Ukraine, and earlier this week, Prime Minister Chris Luxon said he was open to contributing to a peacekeeping force should a peace deal be reached.
Kiwi defence forces are already contributing to training Ukrainian forces in the UK.
Ms Collins, who was Mr Luxon's predecessor as leader of the National party, said Wellington was praised by leaders for its contributions, with some saying "were giving a lot more than what some other nations in Europe".
She said the radical shift in US positioning - more in line with Moscow's view of the war - needed to be seen in the context of its attempts to end the conflict.
"There's quite a lot of posturing going on," she told AAP, "and I'm not quite sure we can read too much into it right now."
Ms Collins said she was concerned by suggestions Russia may not be made to pay a price for its hostility.
"We'll wait and see, but we certainly hope not," she said.
"I think they got away with (the 2014 annexation of) Crimea, and they saw a moment of what they seemed as weakness in the West, and they thought they'd do it again and take over Ukraine in 10 days," she said.
"Three years later, it's still going on.
"It's very important that the rules based order is respected and upheld. The rules-based order means something, and democracies mean something.
"New Zealand and Australia have spent a lot of time, and a lot of, particularly men's lives, defending democracy in Europe, and we don't want to have to do it again."
Ms Collins said the number one message she took from her time in Munich was of the need to increase defence spending.
Plans are already in train to do just that, with Ms Collins confirming her government's much-delayed Defence Capability Plan will be released "pretty soon" and certainly before the government's May 22 budget.
"The finance minister and the prime minister have both made it very clear defence is going to be important in this budget because it's important for our security," she said.
Ms Collins said she planned to head to the US in the coming months to meet with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, just after a separate mission by Foreign Minister Winston Peters to visit his counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
