On Sunday, Mr Zelensky told NBC News that “I don’t know the dialogue between President [Trump] and Putin,” adding only that he believed Tomahawks could pressurise Moscow into serious peace negotiations.
Asked whether Mr Trump needed to get tougher on Putin, following his decision to turn the screws on Israel and Hamas, Mr Zelensky said: “Yes… because Putin is something similar but more strong than Hamas. It’s more bigger war and he is the second [largest] army in the world.”
He denied that Russia was winning the war and said that Putin was after more than just a further tranche of territory, in remarks that appeared to reflect his discussion with Mr Trump.
‘This is not about territory for Putin’
Russia’s “army now [is] in a weak position,” he said, with 1.3 million Russian servicemen reportedly killed or wounded and just 1 per cent of Ukrainian land captured since near the start of the war.
“And really I don’t understand why the leader of the country which has the biggest territory in the world needs some more kilometres – that’s why I think that this war is not about the land and not about territory for him. It’s about our sovereignty and about our independence.”
Mr Trump is set to meet Putin in Budapest within the next fortnight in an attempt to make progress on a peace deal.
During their phone call, Putin told Mr Trump he was willing to cede small parts of the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions under Russia’s control in exchange for the rest of the Donbas. Moscow has struggled to control the territory and made almost no progress on the southern frontline since 2022.
A European diplomat told the Washington Post that Ukraine would never accept such a deal. “It’s like selling them [Russia] their own leg in exchange for nothing,” they said.
On Sunday, Mr Zelensky said he told Mr Trump he was ready and willing to attend the Budapest summit, but cast doubt on whether Putin was seriously prepared to make peace.
