Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with US podcaster Lex Fridman published on Sunday, the 5th of January, that security guarantees for Kyiv to help end the Russian war would only be effective if the US provided them, and that Ukrainians hope Trump will force Moscow to end its war, reports Reuters and The Kyiv Independent.
The interview was published on Sunday evening when Ukrainian troops launched a new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, where an enclave was created in an unexpected invasion last August.
“He does not love his people. He loves only his inner circle”, Zelenskyy said in response to Fridman’s claim that Putin is “a serious man who loves his country”.
Pointing to Putin’s devastating wars in Ukraine, Chechnya, Georgia and Africa, Zelenskyy added: “He sends 18-year-old boys to die… He came to our country, not to defend his own.”
Almost three years after the Russian invasion, Trump’s election has raised hopes for a diplomatic solution to stop the war, but there are also fears in Kyiv that a quick peace may come at a high price.
Zelenskyy used the three-hour interview, which was posted on YouTube, to demand Ukraine’s membership of NATO, stressing his belief that a ceasefire without security guarantees for Kyiv would only give Russia time to rearm for a new attack.
The Ukrainian leader said that the White House under Trump has an important role to play in providing security guarantees and argued that he and the US President-elect see that ending the conflict requires a “peace through strength” approach.
“Without US, there can be no security guarantees. That is, security guarantees that can prevent Russian aggression,” he said, while tactfully acknowledging that Kyiv’s allies in Europe would be too weak militarily to manage on their own.
Zelenskyy reiterated that Putin was not seriously interested in peace talks and should be forced to agree to end the war. Ukraine is experiencing heavy fighting, and its troops have been losing ground in the eastern Donbas region for months
Although he said its future depended on the US, Zelenskyy warned that any decision by Trump-led Washington to withdraw from NATO would weaken the military alliance and encourage Putin in Europe.
“I am simply saying that in such a case (of withdrawal from the alliance) Putin will destroy Europe,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader said he needed to talk to Trump and engage European governments to determine a course of action to stop the Kremlin before considering talks with Russia.
Zelenskyy said it would be symbolic if Trump were the first leader to visit Ukraine by plane after the war. He mentioned Trump’s promise that he would be one of the first to visit the US. Zelenskyy also plans to attend Trump’s inauguration on the 20th of January, if invited.
On Sunday, Ukraine launched a new offensive in the Kursk region of Russia. Ukraine has claimed for months that Russia has deployed thousands of North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region to assist its forces.
Zelenskyy estimated that 3 800 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in fighting so far, but he believes Pyongyang is capable of sending several thousand more if it so wishes.
He also said that North Korea has so far supplied 3.7 million artillery shells to Russia, a figure he contrasted with the one million shells supplied by the European Union last year. Reuters could not independently verify these figures.