Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants Donald Trump to turn up the heat on Vladimir Putin — and stop piling pressure on him to agree to a truce after more than four years of war.
The Ukrainian leader said his people were “tired,” during an exclusive interview in the presidential palace in Kyiv with Gordon Repinski for POLITICO and Welt, but morale was still high and they were not ready to accept Russia’s ultimatums on handing over vast tracts of land in the east of the country.
Zelenskyy urged European leaders to come up with a Plan B to secure Ukraine’s long-term funding, to find a way to work around what he called the “blackmail” of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is holding up a promised EU loan of €90 billion.
POLITICO reported Wednesday that some Baltic and Nordic countries have a plan to give Ukraine enough money to keep it afloat through the first half of this year, even if Orbán maintains his veto.
But when it comes to peace negotiations, Zelenskyy was clear that Trump’s influence will still be key. “We need negotiations. We support them,” Zelenskyy said in the interview. “We don’t trust Russia, but I think, and I trust that Americans really want to finish with this war. I hope that they will help us, but we need more pressure on Russia, not on me.”
