By Clarissa Ward, Ivana Kottasová, NCS
Kyiv (NCS) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a plea to Donald Trump on Monday, telling NCS he desires the US president “to stay on our side.”
Speaking on the Presidential Palace in Kyiv on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky mentioned the United States is much too large and too vital to stroll away from the battle. And he hopes that Trump, throughout his State of the Union deal with Tuesday, will again Ukraine because it fights again in opposition to the Russia of President Vladimir Putin.
“They have to stay with … a democratic country which is fighting against one person. Because this person is a war. Putin is a war. It’s all about himself. It’s all about one person. And the country, all his country is in the prison,” Zelensky advised NCS.
“If they really want to stop Putin, America’s so strong,” he mentioned. Asked if he believes Trump is placing sufficient stress on Putin, Zelensky mentioned, “No.”
In a large-ranging and — at instances — emotional interview, Zelensky acknowledged that Ukrainians are exhausted by the battle. But giving in to Putin’s calls for is just not an choice, he mentioned.
“We can’t just give him everything he wants. Because he wants to occupy us. If we will give him all he wants, we will lose everything — all of us, people will have to run away or be Russian.”
As the warfare enters its fifth yr, trilateral peace talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States haven’t but led to a breakthrough.
Zelensky advised NCS that safety ensures, particularly the problem of how Ukraine’s allies would react if Russia invaded Ukraine once more sooner or later, stay a sticking level.
He mentioned he retains being advised that Russia merely wouldn’t begin one other warfare. “This is not the answer to me. I’m sorry,” he mentioned.
“We have good things in these security guarantees, it’s true,” he mentioned of the guarantees presently on the desk. “But I want (a) very specific answer: what (our) partners will be ready to do if Putin will come again. This is what Ukrainians want to hear,” he mentioned.
There can be a disagreement in regards to the sequence of steps towards peace, Zelensky mentioned. Trump desires Zelensky to signal a peace settlement with Russia and a take care of the United States and European nations that provides Ukraine its safety ensures multi functional go, ideally in a giant ceremony marking the tip of the warfare.
But Zelensky is adamant that safety ensures have to be agreed and ratified by the US Congress first. He mentioned this is able to give the Ukrainian folks the boldness that they may rely on their allies sooner or later — as a result of they’ve been let down too many instances up to now.
Speaking about one other thorny subject, Zelensky advised NCS that Ukraine is keen to freeze the warfare on the present entrance traces. But he mentioned the Ukrainian navy wouldn’t withdraw from the areas of the jap Donetsk area which are nonetheless below its management.
Russia is demanding that Ukraine relinquish the roughly 20% of the area that’s nonetheless below Kyiv’s management, together with the “fortress belt” of business cities, railways and roads that type the spine of Ukraine’s protection and provide the entrance line.
“Russia wants (us) just to withdraw our army. … We can’t be such, sorry, foolish guys. We are not children. We went through this war, during all these years, and so we just, we can’t give them the country on (a) plate,” he mentioned.
“For people who live there, it’s very important what security they will have … 200,000 people live there,” Zelensky mentioned. “What do I have to say (to them) and what (do) our soldiers have to say — ‘Okay, bye, bye. We go away. You are Russian from this moment?’”
Zelensky additionally addressed elections and his personal future. He was elected in 2019 for a time period ending in May 2024, however he has stayed in energy as Ukrainian martial legislation prohibits holding elections throughout wartime. But Trump has prompt that Ukraine ought to maintain elections, even going so far as calling Zelensky a “dictator.”
“It’s very interesting when the presidents of different countries, including the United States and Russia, speak about elections in … Ukraine,” Zelensky famous within the NCS interview. “What do they want? Another president? Okay,” he mentioned, questioning if the pondering was {that a} totally different chief would again down earlier than Russia.
Zelensky mentioned it’s not clear to him whether or not Trump desires another person to be president of Ukraine. “I don’t know,” he mentioned. “He didn’t tell me.”
Pain and honor
Zelensky spoke to NCS after an award ceremony for fallen Ukrainian troopers. One after one other, Zelensky spoke to family members of the lifeless, thanking them for his or her sacrifice and providing phrases of consolation.
The ache was clearly seen on his face when handing medals to sobbing moms, wives and younger youngsters of those that have been killed within the relentless, bloody warfare.
“It’s an honor … to give the order to the mother or to the father, husband, wife (of) heroic people who are not here with us, only in our hearts. But it’s very painful, very emotional,” he advised NCS afterward.
“I want to do it. I think it is important to (get) it from the president. And for me, it’s very important to give it to them. I always have to find time for this.”
The-NCS-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.