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In an interview on NBC News \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky laid out his vision for ending the war in his country in partnership with President Donald Trump \u2014 making clear that he would never accept a peace deal negotiated by the U.S. and Russia without Ukraine at the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine, never,\u201d Zelensky told \u201cMeet the Press\u201d moderator Kristen Welker on Friday in Munich, Germany. \u201cThis is the war in Ukraine, against us, and it\u2019s our human losses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Efforts to end the war in Ukraine were in focus this week as members of the Trump administration, several GOP senators, European leaders and Zelensky gathered in Germany for the Munich Security Conference.<\/p>\n
As he spoke about the potential for Ukraine and Russia to begin negotiations to end the war, Zelensky called for European allies to join the negotiating table, too, warning about what could happen to NATO if Russia isn\u2019t stopped or if the U.S. withdraws from the group.<\/p>\n
Referring to intelligence Ukraine has shared with allies about the Russian army\u2019s ongoing military exercises in Belarus, Zelensky warned about the prospect of a larger-scale Russian invasion elsewhere in Europe as early as this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing that he did not succeed in occupying us, we do not know where he will go. There are risks that this can be Poland and Lithuania, because we believe \u2014 we believe that Putin will wage war against NATO,\u201d Zelensky said in Ukrainian, one of a handful of times throughout the interview when he opted to use his native language.<\/p>\n
In English, Zelensky reiterated his message to Vice President JD Vance, whom he met with earlier Friday in Munich, saying that if the U.S. pulled out of NATO, \u201cthat will be the destroying of NATO.\u201d He predicted that without the threat of U.S. military retaliation, Russia would begin occupying parts of Europe, particularly the former Soviet nations. He added that European NATO members don\u2019t have the military capacity to defend themselves without the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will begin from those countries \u2026 small countries who\u2019ve been in the USSR, in the Soviet Union,\u201d Zelensky said. \u201cBut Europe will not answer, because they don\u2019t have \u2014 they will begin to defend itself. Each country defends itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that he couldn\u2019t predict how much of Europe Putin would seek to occupy but that the \u201cpossibility\u201d would always hang over the continent.<\/p>\n
Zelensky\u2019s comments come as the Trump administration this week outlined its own goals for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, with Trump revealing on Wednesday that he spoke to Putin over the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia\/Ukraine,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social. \u201cWe agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other\u2019s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
During Friday\u2019s interview, Zelensky thanked Trump and other American leaders for their \u201csupport\u201d of Ukraine, but added that there is not \u201cany leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the Ukrainian leader credited Trump for sparking fear in Putin, which could be what ultimately leads to substantial peace talks between the two nations.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Putin] doesn\u2019t want any peace,\u201d Zelensky said. \u201cBut I think he\u2019s really a little bit scared about President Trump, and I think the president has this chance and he\u2019s strong, and I think that really he can push Putin to peace negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Zelensky implored Trump to approach his conversations with Putin and other Russian leaders while maintaining loyalty to Ukraine. He stressed in the interview that it would be “very difficult” for Ukraine to survive without American military assistance and grappled with the level of trust he has in his partnership with the U.S. at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted very much that Ukraine is in [the] priority for Trump, not Russia. And I hope that we are more important,\u201d the Ukrainian president said. \u201cWe are not so big as Russia, but I think strategically, Ukraine is more important for the United States, because we are really partners, allies, and we share common values.\u201dAsked whether he believed Trump was negotiating in good faith, Zelensky said, “I hope so. I hope so. Yes, I count on it. I count on it very much.”<\/p>\n
“I trust President Trump because he’s the president of the United States, because your people, your people voted for him, and I respect their choice,” Zelensky said at another point in the interview.<\/p>\n
He also warned that no one, including Trump, should trust Putin\u2019s words on their face.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t trust Putin. Don\u2019t trust just words about ceasefire,\u201d the Ukrainian president said, citing his own experience getting close to a peace deal with Russia in 2019 before the deal fell apart.<\/p>\n
Zelensky also responded to several points Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made this week, with Hegseth saying it\u2019s \u201cunrealistic\u201d for Ukraine to expect to get all of the territory back that Russia has seized since 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine\u2019s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,\u201d Hegseth said during a speech at NATO\u2019s headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. And Trump, following his phone call with Putin, echoed that sentiment, saying that Russia had \u201cfought for that land\u201d and \u201clost a lot of soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zelensky told Welker on Friday that Ukrainian law prevents the nation from recognizing that Russia owns formerly Ukrainian land.<\/p>\n
\u201cJudicially, we will not recognize \u2026 our occupied territory like territory of Russia. We will never do it,\u201d he said in English, while conceding that he\u2019d be willing to discuss giving up occupied territory as part of a diplomatic deal where Ukraine could join NATO.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we have to return it diplomatically. Yes, we can. If we are in NATO, it\u2019s understandable why diplomatically, it\u2019s very understandable,\u201d Zelensky said, adding that the priority is \u201cof course not to lose people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the future, he added, Ukraine would seek a \u201cgood way, diplomatic\u201d way to recoup territorial losses, but \u201cthe people are most important for today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n