President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on Friday that Ukraine stands little chance of withstanding Russia’s assault without U.S. support, following recent phone calls by U.S. President Donald Trump with Zelenskyy, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Probably it will be very, very, very difficult. And of course, in all the difficult situations, you have a chance. But we will have low chance – low chance to survive without support of the United States,” Zelenskyy said in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet the Press”.
An excerpt was released on Friday from the interview, which will be broadcast on Sunday.
No NATO, Return Of Lands For Ukraine
Trump discussed the war on Wednesday in separate calls with Putin and Zelenskyy, in the U.S. president’s first big step toward diplomacy in a conflict he has promised to end quickly.
Trump later said he did not think it was practical for Kyiv to join NATO and that it was unlikely Ukraine would get back all its land. Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine demands Russia withdraw from captured territory and says it must receive NATO membership or equivalent security guarantees to prevent Moscow from attacking again.
Moscow Aiming To Regroup Military?
Zelenskyy said in the interview that Putin wanted to come to the negotiating table not to end the war but to get a ceasefire deal to lift some global sanctions on Russia and allow Moscow’s military to regroup.
“This is really what he wants. He wants pause, prepare, train, take off some sanctions, because of ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump said his call with Putin was a good conversation that lasted over an hour, while the Kremlin said it lasted nearly an hour and a half. Zelenskyy’s office said Trump and Zelenskyy spoke for about an hour. Trump said the call “went very well”.
(With inputs from Reuters)
