Editor’s note: Watch the full interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on CNN International’s flagship world affairs show, Amanpour, Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.
After a bitter rift with Donald Trump left many in Ukraine fearing that the U.S. president had once again lined up behind Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the dispute head-on: There’s nothing personal between me and Trump, he told CNN, but getting closer to Vladimir Putin would only “make him stronger.”
Relations between the United States and Ukraine have deteriorated significantly in recent weeks.
Zelensky said Trump was “on the wrong side of history” after announcing a deal to buy Russian fuel, upending international efforts to isolate Russia. Trump later lifted some sanctions on Russia, even drawing criticism from his own party. Ukrainian forces have seen their access to the Starlink service managed by Elon Musk restricted.
Speaking to CNN from kyiv on Thursday, Zelensky struck a conciliatory tone, saying the tensions were “not about personalities” – but warned that Putin had no intention of stopping the war.
“My attitude towards Putin is very clear. I think that if we lift the sanctions, we will make him stronger. This is not something personal between me and President Trump, and of course I am against any lifting of sanctions.”
Zelensky spoke to CNN amid renewed diplomatic pressure from Trump’s envoys to find a solution to the four-and-a-half-year conflict.
On Wednesday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff spent three hours speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, describing him in controversial terms. as “humanitarian” for his decision to release American prisoner Stephen Hubbard, aged 74. Witkoff had met Zelensky in Norway the day before.
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A plane carrying Stephen Hubbard, an American citizen freed by Russia, arrives in Texas.
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A plane carrying Stephen Hubbard, an American citizen freed by Russia, arrives in Texas.
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Plane carrying Stephen Hubbard, a US citizen freed by Russia, arrives in Texas
Plane carrying Stephen Hubbard, a US citizen freed by Russia, arrives in Texas
12:30 a.m.
Trump insisted Wednesday that tightening sanctions on Russia would have meant keeping Hubbard in prison. “You could forget about him, you’d never see him again, he’d be back in prison for 25 years,” he said in response to a question from CNN’s Kaitlin Collins.
He added that tougher sanctions would jeopardize the chances of a deal on Ukraine: “When you are on the verge of a deal and you have delicate negotiations, you don’t impose sanctions. »
Zelensky said his meeting in Oslo, the Norwegian capital, had been productive, but that he was not convinced of Putin’s commitment to peace. After Witkoff’s visit, Putin agreed to negotiate in November, while giving few specific details.
“Putin is playing, you know, he’s a player,” Zelensky said.
“It’s a shame because he’s playing with other people’s lives and, of course, he doesn’t want to (stop the war). So what we expect from our partners (is) not to give him the opportunity to be stronger and break us.”
Trump said Wednesday that his administration was “the closest we’ve ever been” to a resolution to the war in Ukraine — only for Russia to launch hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles against its neighbor overnight.
So far, Putin has also maintained his maximalist demands on Ukraine – especially territorial ones. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Wednesday that “the fight is now really focused on what’s happening in the rest of Donbas,” the region in eastern Ukraine that is largely under Russian control. He said “creative ideas have been proposed on how to resolve this difference.”
Speaking to CNN, Zelensky hinted at the possibility of freezing the current front lines in order to “stop the fire, stop the killing, sit down and talk.” However, he made it clear that the idea of Ukraine ceding territories currently under its control to Russia was a failure and that kyiv would never recognize the occupied areas as part of Russia.
“Our territory is very important because it is about people. It is not a question of kilometers,” he said. “Many people died defending this land, defending our independence, our country.”
“No one will recognize these temporarily occupied territories as Russian territories, and I think Russia understands that. It’s a shame if someone doesn’t understand, but it’s up to them to decide,” the Ukrainian president added.
There were signs of easing tensions after kyiv accused the United States of limiting intelligence sharing on incoming Russian missiles, slowing vital Starlink services and delaying weapons deliveries.
Zelensky said earlier this week that intelligence sharing had been restored, but he told CNN Starshield that SpaceX’s military-grade service was not yet fully restored.
But Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptor missiles means that even though its military is now warned of the arrival of a Russian ballistic missile, it has nothing with which to shoot it down.
Zelensky also told CNN on Thursday that although Ukraine’s European allies have supplied Ukraine with air defense missiles, “this is not enough to defend us.”
Ukraine, Zelensky said, now mainly needs two things from its allies: “not to lift Putin’s sanctions… (and) to provide us with better missiles.”
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