Zelenskyy: ‘Free and democratic world’ is ‘waiting’ for Trump to bring peace in Ukraine

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told Martha Raddatz of ABC News, his country is ready for a stop the fire negotiated by the United States, accusing the Russian president Vladimir Putin to aim at the “total defeat” of Ukraine.

In the exclusive Set-Down interview in kyiv with Raddatz, co-presenter of “This Week”, Zelenskyy said that Putin is not interested in peace and that only the “hard pressure” directed by the United States and linked by European allies would make Putin “pragmatic” in his thinking.

“Then they will stop war,” Zelenskyy said.

“I am convinced that the president of the United States has all the powers and sufficient influence to intensify,” Zelenskyy told Raddatz.

Zelenskyy’s supplications for the end of the fight in Ukraine, a constant message since Russia launched a large -scale invasion in February 2022, occurred when Russia bombed Ukraine, launching 472 drones last week.

The Ukraine Air Force said it was the Greatest drone assault.

“People probably don’t realize that,” Zelenskyy said. “They have to understand that we are under attacks, under attacks every day. And you can remember that when they talked about ceasefire, the high temporal fire[s]They were still attacking and throwing strikes. “

Operation ‘Spiderweb’: “We have to prepare such plans and we are not stopping”

Raddatz’s reports in Ukraine occur a week after the country perhaps took its most significant offensive action in the war when it hit Russian airfields to Siberia in an attack of coordinated surprise drones that Ukraine said that he eliminated a third of Russian strategic chocolates, or about 40 planes.

The United States evaluates Ukraine damaged many less airplanes, estimating that 10 Russian airplanes were destroyed in the attack, a United States official said to ABC News.

Zelenskyy told Raddatz that he saw the videos “that everyone was watching” after attacks, images that show Ukrainian drones that emerge from containers, including mobile cabins transported by Russian vehicles.

Russian drivers “knew nothing”, and the operation used only Ukrainian weapons, said the Ukrainian president.

Zelenskyy pointed out the secret operation, planned for 18 months and called “Operation Spiderweb”, reached only military objectives and intended to improve the position of Ukraine at the negotiating table.

“We can only counteract the” aggression of Russia, “said Zelenskyy,” and we understood if [Ukraine’s special services could] Take some steps, we can stop [Russia] On their tracks, and probably then they will be ready for some type of diplomacy and conversations. “

The United States has conducted bilateral conversations with each Ukraine and Russia since President Donald Trump assumed the position, and the delegations of the two Warring countries have gathered in Istanbul as recently as Monday, one day after Operation Spiderweb.

The Kremlin described an act of terrorism to the broad assault, a position that Zelenskyy rejected.

“Is [a] Clean and clear military operation. It is a step that showed everyone that we do not want this war. We don’t want to fight, “he said.

“We have to prepare such plans, and we are not stopping,” he added. “Because … we have no estimate of what [tomorrow will bring]. We really don’t know if they will stop this war. “

Zelenskyy supports the Unconditional Fire, rejects the characterization of Trump’s “playground” war

Zelenskyy requested a stop the fire throughout the discussion, telling Raddatz that Ukraine is ready to leave his arms without conditions, if Russia will also do it.

The Ukrainians would renounce a security guarantee of the United States, who have called essential if they are not invited to join the organization of the North Atlantic Treaty and accept a cessation of hostility of 30 days, Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy constantly suggested diplomacy, and the power to end the war, will cross the White House, where in February Trump scolded Zelenskyy for not having “letters” in discussions on a peace agreement.

Such an apparent tension was not evident in an Oval office meeting between Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday, where Trump said the war in Ukraine is like “two young children who fight like crazy” and “sometimes it is better to let them fight for a while and then separate them.”

Merz retreated the president’s statement, and Zelenskyy said he also dismissed.

“President Zelenskyy, you speak so powerfully about the loss in your country and what your people have suffered,” Raddatz told Zelenskyy in kyiv only two days later. “Do you think the president is receiving that message when he says things like ‘are two children fighting’?”

Zelenskyy described the “unlimited” pain of a Ukrainian man who had lost his children and wife in a missile strike.

Zelenskyy said the man told him he was “looking for them by my side” on his floor even after they died. “And they are not there … I still feel it was a nightmare. It wasn’t real. It was a dream, a bad dream.”

“Has people who haven’t lost children feel something? Probably not,” said Zelenskyy. “Can the president who is in the United States feel exactly like this father? No.”

He closed the anecdote with a overwhelming rejection of Trump’s analogy for war.

“We are not children with Putin in the Parking Patio.

Zelenskyy suggested that his relationship with Trump has improved since the two presidents gathered a month in Trump’s presidency at the Oval office, where Zelenskyy told Raddatz “the cameras do not lie.”

The Ukrainian leader acknowledged that the meeting was not useful, saying that it was “emotional” when he went to Washington “defending the truth.”

However, his April meeting at the Vatican, where both leaders attended the funeral of Pope Francis, was “productive,” said Zelenskyy.

“Fifteen minutes in the Vatican, Tet-A-Tet, one by one … they made more to establish the confidence than the meeting with many people present in the oval office,” he added.

He said now “wants[s] Believe that we have a normal and equal professional relationship. “

Even so, Zelenskyy said he did not agree with Trump’s vision on Putin’s intentions in Ukraine.

“President Trump told our Terry Moran In an interview that believes that Putin wants peace, “said Raddatz.” You think he is wrong. “

“With due respect to President Trump, of course, I think it’s just his personal opinion,” said Zelenskyy. “I firmly feel that Putin does not want to end this war. Within his mind, it is impossible to end this war without the total defeat of Ukraine.

“Trust me, we understand the Russians much better, the mentality of the Russians, that the Americans understand the mentality of the Russians. We are neighbors during ages,” said the president of War, chosen in 2019, Raddatz.

When asked to characterize Trump’s relationship with Putin, Zelenskyy said it was “longer” than his with President 45 and 47 American, which suggests that his commitments preceded Trump’s election as president.

“I think for Trump, business is important,” he said, hinting at force in what he called the “economic” relationship of the president with Putin and even the diplomacy of the moment.

“For Trump, it is important to extend the geopolitical relationship line between the United States and the Soviet Union at that time,” said Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy calls the sanctions of the United States, ‘intermediaries’ to achieve high fire

The Ukrainian president presented a course of action for his allies in the war, supporting a package of paralyzing sanctions led by Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., a Trump ally, which would slapped 500% of tariffs in any country that bought Russian energy products.

“No matter who wants, apart from the United States, apply sanctions against Russia,” Zelenskyy said. “If it is not the United States, there will be no real impact.”

Zelenskyy said that kyiv had accepted proposals for high heat under the administrations of Trump and Biden and pointed out that Moscow has rejected each offer. Although he argued that peace can only be “sustainable and long” through a “strong security guarantee,” said Ukraine would be willing to stop fighting without an American vote to defend it in the future of Russia.

“Do we like fire without security guarantees?” Zelenskyy said. “Not much, but we still support it.”

Ukraine has been invited to the next NATO Summit in The Hague in the Netherlands, NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte He said this week. Trump will attend the high -risk meeting, said the White House.

Zelenskyy framed his case for American pressure on Russia in history, telling Raddatz that “most wars ended up even on stage when both parties, both parties, did not trust the other.”

“There were intermediaries, there was a strong position of third countries … if it is not a complete capitulation [as with] Germany at the end of World War II, “he said.” Most wars had ended with some types of agreements … [with] strong third parties involved that can press the aggressor. “

He described the “long aftertaste” of the war between its battered parts, and asked Moscow “pressure” on numerous occasions throughout his interview with Raddatz.

“Are there enough levers and powers to stop this in the United States? Yes, I am convinced that the president of the United States has all the powers and enough leverage to intensify,” said Zelenskyy.

“It can join other partners like European leaders,” he concluded. “They [are] Everyone looks at President Trump as a free world leader, a free and democratic world, and they are waiting for him. “