President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that Ukraine, together with its partners, is already very close to the moment when it will be possible to force russia to end or at least suspend the war. However, in his opinion, this requires decisive pressure, including tough sanctions from the United States.
The head of state said this in an interview with the American television channel ABC News, the full version of which was published by the presidential press service.
“Honestly, we have come very close to the moment when we can force Russia to end the war, at least stop it. We feel it.
Our operation "Spiderweb"... although they (the russians - ed.) are furious, they understand everything - that if there are such cases with 20,000 missiles (which the US planned for Ukraine, but transferred to the Middle East - ed.), etc., then we will count on our own forces... we do not want the war to continue, but if this is the only way out, we will fight for ourselves.
We have come very close. We need strong help from the United States, the US needs unity with Europe, and still put pressure on putin. He does not want to end the war, but he can end the war due to pressure from partners. In my opinion, this gives a chance. And this definitely does not sound pessimistic, I am talking about reality,” Zelenskyy said.
When asked about the possibility of sanctions against russia by Donald Trump, the President replied: “He is the leader of the United States of America, he must do it. I hope, we really believe that the United States is the leader of the civilized world.”
When the journalist mentioned that Trump had allegedly hinted at the possibility of sanctions against Ukraine itself, Zelenskyy replied: “The Russians have already done a lot against Ukraine. We definitely don’t want the US to do anything.”
The President also assured that Kyiv supports all US initiatives to stop hostilities, end the war, and various formats of negotiations: “Here we don’t need to look for a balance between us and the Russians. The Russians don’t want this. Sometimes there is no alternative. Here, only the Russians don’t want to end the war. It doesn’t matter who wants to impose sanctions on the Russians, here America must impose sanctions. There is no alternative here, neither in the first nor in the second question.”
Zelenskyy stressed that the United States has all the leverage to put pressure on the kremlin – from sanctions and weapons to the ability to unite European allies around it: “The President of the United States has all the potential, all the tools to put pressure (on putin – ed.) – starting from sanctions, economic blockades, arms packages, uniting other European leaders around him who want this”.
“They (European leaders – ed.) look at President Trump as the leader of the world, the free and democratic world, and say: ‘Please be a leader. You are the leader. Stop Putin, and we will help you, because Europe is not as strong as America.’ Europe still has to become very strong. But today there is a struggle. President Trump can do all this, I believe,” the head of state concluded.
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