Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a new interview Tuesday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will benefit from his upcoming summit with President Donald Trump in three key ways.
Why It Matters
Trump and Putin are slated to meet in Alaska on Friday to discuss bringing an end to Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, which Putin launched in February 2022. The White House said the Russian strongman reached out to request the meeting and that Zelensky has not been invited.
The Trump administration has also sought to temper expectations around the president’s meeting with Putin. Trump said in the past that he would end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of being elected or shortly after being inaugurated.
Neither promise has come to fruition and the White House this week framed talks between Trump and Putin as a “listening exercise” and a “fact-finding” mission.
What To Know
Zelensky was asked by NewsNation on Tuesday what he believes Putin will take away from his meeting with Trump.
The Ukrainian leader didn’t mince words, telling the outlet, “I believe that Putin will benefit from this, because what he is seeking, frankly, is photographs. He needs a photo from a meeting with President Trump.”
Zelensky continued: “First, he will be meeting on U.S. soil, which I believe is his personal victory. Second, he is coming out of isolation because he is meeting on U.S. soil. Third, with this meeting, he has somehow postponed the sanctions policy. President Trump has serious sanctions, and we are very much looking forward to these sanctions.”
“We will see what happens next,” he added.
Indeed, the Trump administration’s decision to allow Putin into the country is striking, given that the Russian leader has been accused of war crimes against Ukraine by the International Criminal Court. That the meeting will take place in Alaska—which Russia sold to the U.S. for a little over $7 million in 1867—adds another layer of significance.
Putin’s meeting with Trump will be the first time the Russian leader has met with an American president since June 2021, when he encountered then-President Joe Biden for a bilateral summit. Russia invaded Ukraine less than eight months later, cementing Putin’s status as a pariah in the Western world.
Trump addressed the upcoming meeting with his Russian counterpart while speaking to reporters last week and suggested that there would be “swapping of territories” between Russia and Ukraine.
Zelensky flatly rejected the notion, saying that Ukrainians “will not give their land to an occupier.”
The Ukrainian leader’s refusal to cede land to Russia irked Trump, who said Monday that he disagreed “very, very severely” with him.
“I get along with Zelensky, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened.”
Zelensky spoke by phone with Trump, special envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders on Tuesday. After the call, the Ukrainian president said he was told Russia is showing signs that it may want to end the war.
“During the call, there was a signal from Mr. Witkoff, who was also on the call, that Russia is ready to end the war, or at least to make a first step toward a ceasefire, and that this was the first such signal from them,” Zelensky said. “Everyone on the call felt positive about this, that there was some kind of shift.”
But he emphasized that it was still unclear to him what Putin may have told Witkoff regarding a cessation of hostilities.
Trump’s announcement on Friday about a meeting with Putin came as the Kremlin’s army slowly advances deeper into Ukraine—in defiance of demands from Trump and other Western leaders to cease attacks on civilian locales, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Russia and Ukraine are also far apart on their terms for peace. Zelensky has refused to agree to a ceasefire deal that doesn’t include security guarantees for his country, while Putin demands Ukraine be shut out from NATO and cede to Russia four territories Moscow claims it annexed.
Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield have also expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war.
What People Are Saying
Zelensky wrote on Telegram: Putin “is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war. Putin is determined only to present a meeting with America as his personal victory and then continue acting exactly as before, applying the same pressure on Ukraine as before.
“So far, there is no indication whatsoever that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation. On the contrary, they are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations. If someone is preparing for peace, this is not what he does.”
A Ukrainian Spartan Brigade drone unit commander with the call sign Buda told the AP he doesn’t think Russia is interested in peace, adding: “It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them. I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them.”
A howitzer commander with the call sign Warsaw in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, told the AP: “We are on our land, we have no way out. So we stand our ground, we have no choice.”
What Happens Next
Trump and Zelensky will speak on the phone Wednesday, with European leaders joining the call.
Putin has also briefed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un about his meeting with Trump in Anchorage, according to Russian state media.
Moscow and Pyongyang have strengthened their strategic partnership since Russia invaded Ukraine and North Korea has sent troops to fight alongside Russian soldiers on the front lines.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also left open the possibility that Trump could travel to Russia at some point, telling reporters on Tuesday that “perhaps” the American president will visit Putin in his home country down the road.
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.
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