Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska gave the Russian chief what he wished.
“It is a pity that Ukraine was not there, as a result of I feel that President Trump gave, gave Putin what he wished,” Zelenskyy stated. “He had — he wished, you realize, he wished very a lot to satisfy with President Trump, with the president of the United States. And I feel that, and I feel that Putin acquired it. And, it is a pity.”
The Ukrainian president added, “Putin does not wish to meet with me, however he needs very a lot to satisfy with the president of america, to indicate everyone video and pictures that he’s there.”
Zelenskyy spoke to ABC Information Chief World Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz Friday in an interview that aired on ABC Information’ “This Week” on Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with Martha Raddatz of ABC Information.
ABC Information
Zelenskyy’s feedback got here days earlier than Russia launched greater than 800 drones and different munitions throughout Ukraine in a single day Saturday, together with the capital metropolis of Kyiv, the place the federal government’s cupboard constructing was struck. The assaults left no less than eight civilians useless and injured 59 others throughout the nation. Ukraine’s Air Power described the assault as a file assault.
Because the struggle in Ukraine drags on, Trump has continued to push — to date, unsuccessfully — for a gathering between Putin and Zelenskyy as he seeks to carry the yearslong battle to a detailed. This week, a Trump-imposed two-week deadline for peace talks between Putin and Zelenskyy got here and went.
Talking with Raddatz from a bombed-out American-owned manufacturing unit in Ukraine, Zelenskyy stated that he believed that to finish the struggle, extra strain from American and European allies towards Russia is required.
“You discuss extra sanctions and extra tariffs and extra assist from President Trump. And you’ve got instructed him you suppose he has the ability to do that. And but the deadlines cross many times and one other one has handed,” Raddatz stated.
“All of us perceive that we’d like further strain on Putin. We’d like strain from america. And I stated that I feel that President Trump is true in regards to the Europeans — I’m very grateful to all of the companions. However a few of them, I imply, they proceed to purchase oil and Russian gasoline. And this isn’t truthful…So we’ve got to cease shopping for any form of vitality from Russia,” he stated.
“This is just one, a method [of] how one can cease the killer. It’s good to take off his, I imply, to take off his weapon. Power is his weapon,” Zelenskyy added.
On a potential assembly with Putin, Zelenskyy stated the Russian president proposed phrases for a gathering that he couldn’t settle for, and that Putin was “enjoying video games with america.”
“He stated he’ll meet for those who come to Moscow,” Raddatz stated to Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy scoffed.
“He can come to Kyiv,” he stated.
“I can not go to Moscow below — when my nation is below missiles, below assaults every day,” Zelenskyy stated. “I can not go to this capital of this terrorist. It is comprehensible. And he understands it.”
“It is the identical proposition, as I stated, that he has to come back to Kyiv. So it is comprehensible that he’s doing it … to once more, to postpone the assembly we set,” he added.
However Zelenskyy famous that the potential of a bilateral assembly between the 2 warring leaders is just not out of the query — simply not on Russian territory.
“I stated, look, Mr. President, I am prepared for any form of assembly — however not in Russia — any form of assembly, bilateral, trilateral. We’ll be blissful if you’ll be in,” he stated.
As for the lengthy wanted safety ensures that Ukraine has requested from American and European allies within the occasion of an finish to the struggle, Zelenskyy stated that “any safety ensures in Ukraine will be primarily based solely on our military.”
“I feel that, that President [Trump] needs to complete this struggle. But when we talk about simply and lasting peace, it is necessary to complete and to not have risk … to have aggression once more in six months, in a single 12 months, in two years. It is not solely necessary solely to cease the struggle. Sure, it is crucial, however to have an enduring peace, to have safety,” he stated.
Requested by Raddatz what victory appears like for his embattled nation, Zelenskyy stated the survival of Ukraine.
“Putin’s purpose is to occupy Ukraine,” Zelenskyy stated.
“[Putin] needs, after all, to occupy us completely. For him, this [is] victory. And till he can do it, the victory is on our facet,” he stated. “In order that’s why for us to outlive is a victory. As a result of we’re surviving with our identification, with our nation, with our independence.”
