“Editor’s note: The full interview with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky aired on CNN International’s flagship global affairs program Amanpour at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday. After a bitter rift with Donald Trump left many in Ukraine fearing that the US president had swung behind Russia again, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the dispute head on:”, — write on: www.cnn.com
Editor’s note: The full interview with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky aired on CNN International’s flagship global affairs program Amanpour at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday.
After a bitter rift with Donald Trump left many in Ukraine fearing that the US president had swung behind Russia again, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the dispute head on: there’s nothing personal between me and Trump, he told CNN, but cozying up to Vladimir Putin would only “make him stronger.”
Ties between the US and Ukraine have badly deteriorated in recent weeks.
Zelensky said Trump was “on the wrong side of history” after he announced a deal to buy Russian fuel, upending international efforts to isolate Russia. Trump then waived some sanctions against Russia, drawing criticism even from his own party. Ukraine’s forces found their access to the Elon Musk-run Starlink service restricted.
Speaking to CNN from Kyiv on Thursday, Zelensky took a conciliatory tone, saying the tensions were “not about personalities” – but warned that Putin had no intention of stopping the war.
“My attitude to Putin is very clear. I think that if we lift sanctions, we will make him stronger. It’s not something personal between me and President Trump, and of course I’m against any lifting of sanctions.”
Zelensky spoke to CNN amid a renewed diplomatic push from Trump’s envoys to find a resolution to the four-and-a-half-year conflict.
On Wednesday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff spent three hours talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, controversially describing him as a “humanitarian” for his decision to release 74-year-old American prisoner Stephen Hubbard. Witkoff had met with Zelensky in Norway a day earlier.