Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants the US president Donald Trump to put more pressure on the Russian dictator, rather than pushing Kyiv to accept an unfair peace deal, according to Politico.
In interviews with Politico and the German newspaper Welt, Zelensky said Ukrainians are tired but morale is still high and they are not ready to accept Russia’s ultimatums, which involve giving up large swaths of the country’s territory to the aggressor. He also called on European leaders to create a backup plan that would allow for long-term financial support for Ukraine and find a way to bypass the blackmail of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has blocked a 90 billion euro loan to Kyiv.
Politico has already reported that some Baltic and Nordic countries have created a plan that would allow Ukraine to get enough money to last through the first half of the year even if Orbán manages to veto a European loan.
Speaking about the peace talks, Zelensky stressed that Trump’s influence remains the main key to ending the war. He told reporters that Ukrainians need talks and they support them. Kyiv does not trust Russia, but Zelensky believes that the Americans really want to end the war: “I hope that they will help us, but we need more pressure on Russia, not on me.” The Ukrainian president’s statements follow another time when Trump expressed dissatisfaction with Zelensky, indicating that Kyiv should make a deal. Without providing evidence for his belief, Trump said that he was more confident in Putin’s desire to achieve a ceasefire.
Since taking office in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly alarmed Kyiv and its European allies
by seemingly taking a Putin-friendly stance, calling Zelensky a dictator and blaming him for starting the war, despite the fact that it was Moscow that invaded Ukrainian territory.
Nevertheless, Trump’s envoys in December made it clear that the United States was ready to provide Ukraine with certain security guarantees that are essential for concluding a peace agreement. Zelensky stressed that it was still not clear what exactly the guarantees would be offered. This is very important for Kyiv, but there has been no clear answer from the Americans. The Ukrainian president said that the security guarantees would have to be approved by national parliaments and the US Congress to ensure that future governments do not abandon them.
Trump has repeatedly said that Zelensky does not have the right cards to trade with Russia, but the dynamics changed in the first week of March, when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and it turned out that Ukrainian experience in the fight against drones is irreplaceable. Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine will send a team of experts to the Persian Gulf countries to help American allies defend themselves from Iran’s Shahed drones. In exchange for the assistance, Zelensky hopes to receive US-made PAC-3 missiles, which are used in Patriot air defense systems, but there are concerns that they may become a shortage, since the Americans use the missiles in the Persian Gulf. An agreement on the exchange has not yet been reached, and negotiations are likely to be difficult. Zelensky also admitted that
Trump is right when he says that the Ukrainian hates Putin.
It has also proven to be challenging for Kyiv to get the European Union’s support, which Orbán has opposed. Hungary, along with Slovakia, has withheld a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine. Zelensky said that both he and Europe need a Plan B because Europeans know that Ukrainians are defending not only their own values but also the freedom of all of Europe. Asked whether he had gone too far in his veiled physical threats to Orbán, Zelensky said he believed that diplomatic silence was not helpful when it came to the Hungarian prime minister.
Hungary and Slovakia want Ukraine to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline, which still carries Russian oil through Ukrainian territory to both countries, and Orbán has accused Zelensky of delaying the work for political reasons. Meanwhile, Zelensky insists that the problem is Orbán, not the pipeline, which was damaged in Russian attacks. The Ukrainian pointed out that the Hungarian Prime Minister is a friend and strategic partner of Russia, and an ally of Putin. The only thing Orbán has not done yet is attack Ukraine with missiles and drones, and he has not sent his soldiers to help Moscow. However, Orbán is blocking the loan, preventing Kyiv from getting weapons and opposing Ukraine’s accession to the EU. The Hungarian Prime Minister is also spreading Russian narratives.
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