Zelensky says Trump’s peace demands focused only on Ukraine ‘not fair’
The president said Ukrainians ‘can’t understand why’ they would be asked to cede additional land to Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said US President Donald Trump was exerting undue pressure on him in trying to secure a resolution to the nearly four-year-old war pitting Kyiv against Moscow.
Zelensky, in an interview with US website Axios published on Tuesday, also said any plan requiring Ukraine to give up territory that Russia had not captured in the eastern Donbas region would be rejected by Ukrainians if put to a referendum.
Axios quoted Zelensky as saying it was “not fair” that Trump kept publicly calling on Ukraine, not Russia, to make concessions in negotiating terms for a peace plan.
“I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision,” Axios quoted Zelensky as saying in the interview conducted by phone as Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators held talks in Geneva.
Trump has twice in recent days suggested it was up to Ukraine and Zelensky to take steps to ensure the talks proved successful.
“Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday.
Zelensky, Axios said, suggested it might be easier to put pressure on Ukraine than on Russia.