Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is not “afraid” of President Donald Trump, despite “everyone in the world” fearing the U.S. president.
The Context
Zelensky has a somewhat difficult relationship with Trump, who has dubbed Zelensky a “dictator” and oversaw a public berating of the Ukrainian leader in the infamous White House confrontation back in February. With Ukraine needing the U.S. President on board, Zelensky has consistently adopted a more conciliatory tone and played down strained relations between Washington and Kyiv.
What To Know
“We are not enemies with America,” Zelensky said in an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, published on Sunday. “We are friends. So why should we be afraid?”
Trump, since returning to the Oval Office at the start of year, has been mercurial with friendly and adversary states alike, including slapping tariffs on close U.S. allies like Canada. His position on Ukraine has flip-flopped, sometimes hailing Zelensky as “brave” but also suggesting Kyiv has little leverage and that Ukraine started the war with Russia. Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022 and annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
“Everyone in the world” is afraid of the Republican, Zelensky said. “That’s the truth.”
Zelensky last month visited Washington in the hope of securing American-made Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles after the administration said it would be willing to provide the weapons, which would allow Kyiv to more easily strike deep into Russia. Moscow had warned the missiles would ratchet up tensions with the U.S. and escalate the conflict. Zelensky walked away empty-handed.
Zelensky denied claims Trump had flung aside maps of eastern Europe during the visit, describing the exchanges between the two leaders as “normal” and “constructive.” The Financial Times had reported shortly after the meeting the conversation had become an expletive-laden “shouting match.”
The Ukrainian leader also said he hoped to acquire 27 Patriot air defense systems from the U.S. and that European countries could provide their own advanced air defense systems as a stop-gap measure.
Russia has hammered Ukraine with aerial attacks, including using hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles. The Patriot, typically deemed the gold standard of ballistic missile defense, has consistently featured at the very top of Kyiv’s wish list of military support from its allies. But Patriot batteries—and the interceptor missiles they use—are in scarce supply and very high demand.
What People Are Saying
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published on Sunday: “The U.S. is our strategic partner, for many years, perhaps even decades and centuries.”