Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President, has downplayed past disagreements with former President Donald Trump after meeting with him in New York City.
“We understand that even in any kind of future negotiations, Ukraine has to be strong. That’s what it’s about,” Zelenskyy told Jenkins when asked why he met with Trump. “We spoke with Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and the Congress of the United States.”
Jenkins probed Zelenskyy on his statements in a New Yorker article earlier this week, in which he was cited as saying that he believes Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he does” — and whether Trump had said anything to change Zelenskyy’s opinion.
“No, I said that I think that we understand much more better than everybody, really, including Donald Trump, what’s going on in Ukraine and how to stop him. It’s difficult to understand,” Zelenskyy responded.
The Ukrainian president stated that his country is no longer the same as it was when it was attacked in 2022. “Ukraine, throughout the war before the full-scale invasion, was two different countries. So without this experience, you won’t know how to stop [Russian President Vladimir Putin],” Zelenskyy concluded.
“And that’s what I wanted to share to president . . . and the price of this tragedy of bloody invasion of Putin.” During their encounter, Trump assured reporters that he had a “good relationship” with both Zelenskyy and Putin. Zelenskyy then interjected, saying that he hopes the United States has a better relationship with Ukraine than Russia.
Jenkins questioned Ukraine’s president if Trump’s comment about keeping a good relationship with Putin troubled him. Zelenskyy said he was not necessarily concerned, noting that “Trump has relations and had relations when he was the president, during his term” and maintains “relations with a lot of countries and a lot of UN leaders.”
During the exclusive interview, Zelenskyy regretted the lack of response Putin received from the rest of the world when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2014, seizing Crimea.
“Nobody kicked him, and that meant he understood that he can occupy it and go further. He can occupy new territories of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “He began to prepare to do this — his plan — and he did it.”
Written by Jennifer Amarachi
