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Agence France-Presse

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast on Monday that the United States was trying to “please” Moscow in talks on Ukraine and warned of Europe’s military “weakness”.
Reacting to conciliatory comments towards Russia by US officials, Zelensky said: “The US is now saying things that are very favourable to Putin … because they want to please him”.
“They want to meet quickly and have a quick win. But what they want – ‘just a ceasefire’ – is not a win,” Zelensky said, according to a translation provided by broadcaster ARD of an interview recorded on Saturday in Munich, Germany.
US President Donald Trump shocked allies last week by announcing he had a direct conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a process to quickly end the war in Ukraine.


US defence chief Pete Hegseth also appeared to rule out Ukraine joining Nato or retaking the territory lost since 2014.
On the contours of any future deal, Zelensky said “we will not sign just anything in order to be applauded” and stressed that “the fate of our state for generations to come” was at stake.
He rejected the idea of ceding Ukrainian territory that Russia has seized, saying: “We will reclaim it all”.
As European leaders held crisis talks in Paris on the way forward, ARD broadcast the interview which Zelensky recorded during the three-day Munich Security Conference that ended on Sunday.
The Ukrainian president warned that Europe was in a weak position if it could not rely on the US security umbrella.
While “readiness has increased” in recent years, “in terms of troop strength, the number of combat troops, the fleet, the air force, the drones … I honestly think that Europe is weak today”, he said.

Zelensky said Ukraine had grown more resilient over the past three years and that “Putin wouldn’t be able to occupy us the way he wanted to”.
Even so, he warned that “there will definitely not be a Ukrainian victory without US support”.
Zelensky said he and Trump had spoken about deploying foreign troops to police a future ceasefire.
“I told him the Americans should be a part of this, because otherwise we might lose our unity,” he said.
At a meeting of Kyiv’s backers in Brussels last week, Hegseth flatly rejected the possibility of a US troop deployment to Ukraine.
When asked whether he would give up the presidency if necessary for an agreement, Zelensky said that “for peace I am prepared to do anything”.
“If tomorrow Ukraine were accepted into the EU and Nato, if Russian troops were to withdraw and we got security guarantees, I wouldn’t be needed any more,” he said.


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Ukraine war

US wants to please Russia’s Putin, Ukraine’s Zelensky says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. Photo: dpa

Ukrainian forces fire rockets toward Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. Photo: Oleg Petrasiuk via Reuters

Rubio leading US delegation to Saudi Arabia for talks with Russia on Ukraine

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio boards a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on February 1. Photo: Reuters

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Photo: AFP

Russian media coverage of the recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters

Zelensky says Ukraine won’t be part of US-Russia talks, can’t accept deals made without Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a press conference on the sidelines of the 61st Munich Security Conference in Germany. Photo: dpa

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo: Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, and then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gather for a meeting on September 27, 2024, in New York. Photo: TNS

Former UK PM John Major warns of ‘more dangerous’ world if US abandons allies

Former British prime minister John Major. File photo: EPA

If Trump wants peace in Ukraine, he must reach a consensus with Europe

Illustration: Craig Stephens

A woman sits in a transit centre, in Pavlohrad, Ukraine, for people fleeing the Donetsk region, on September 5, 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

Trump’s rush for Ukraine deal with Russia’s Putin leaves Europe high and dry

Ukrainian servicemen operate a tank at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region on February 10. Photo: EPA-EFE

US Vice-President J.D. Vance (right) holds talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Munich on February 14. Photo: AFP

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World

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Russia & Central Asia

Ukraine’s president warns against a ‘quick win’ as momentum grows for talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine


Ukraine’s president warns against a ‘quick win’ as momentum grows for talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
