Ukraine’s president has a very clear message for Donald Trump – you alone have the power to stop Vladimir Putin, and the time to act is now.
Meeting with me in Kyiv on the eve of the US president’s state visit to Britain, Volodymyr Zelenskyy bristled with frustration at the failure of the Western powers to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin, even as the Russians escalated their attacks on Ukraine.
Asked if the summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska has proven a mistake, he responded without hesitation that Putin is clearly not paying a price for his actions.
“He should have received a setback in this war and stop. Instead, he received de-isolation,” he said.
“He definitely wants to trick the US. He is doing everything he can to avoid sanctions, to prevent the US and Trump from putting sanctions on him.”
Zelenskyy believes Trump is reluctant to put pressure on Putin because it might jeopardise attempts to end the war.
But the Ukrainian leader argues this isn’t the way to handle the Russian president: “He understands force. That’s his language. That’s the language he understands. He doesn’t speak many languages, but that’s the language of force he understands – just like Russian, you know, his mother tongue.”
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Zelenskyy also argued Trump’s emphasis on getting the Europeans to ratchet up economic pressure – foremost by stopping their purchases of Russian energy, and by putting tariffs on other buyers like China and India – was understandable, but that the world’s superpower shouldn’t wait for others to act.
Trump has called on EU countries to end all Russian oil and gas purchases, and only then will he consider imposing sanctions on Russia.
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“I think the US is strong enough on its own,” Zelenskyy said.
“They can make this happen quicker and all that’s lacking now is a strong sanctions package from the US.”
