‘Welcome Donald’: Zelensky seeks to win Trump to Ukraine’s side
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US President-elect Donald Trump (left) shaking hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the Dec 7 reopening of France's Notre-Dame Cathedral.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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BRUSSELS, Belgium – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec 19 he wanted to appeal to US President-elect Donald Trump on a human level to win him over against “crazy” Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“Welcome Donald! What can I say?” Mr Zelensky said, when asked by a journalist in Brussels what emotions he will feel when Trump is inaugurated in January.
“I think that President Trump is a strong man and I want very much to have him on our side.”
Trump reclaims the White House on Jan 20, having vowed to cut a quick deal to end the war in Ukraine unleashed by Moscow.
Kyiv and its European allies fear the volatile Republican could cut support for Ukraine’s military and force Mr Zelensky to make painful concessions to Russia.
“I count on (having) the time to speak, to think, to listen and to hear his view and to show our view,” Mr Zelensky said, after a meeting with EU leaders.
“I hope that he will understand me because I think that we all, it doesn’t matter, politicians, businessmen in the past, we are just people anyway and we have, I think, the same emotions and the same values.”
In comparison, Mr Zelensky said he believed his Russian counterpart Putin was “crazy”.
“He loves to kill, that’s very dangerous for everybody,” said Mr Zelensky.
The Ukrainian leader insisted that Kyiv wanted to “finish the war” – but he warned that he was against a ceasefire being imposed that would just allow Moscow to rearm and attack again.
“Can you imagine that in two months, Putin will come back, in six months, in one year, in two years. Who will lose? Everybody. Everybody will lose,” Mr Zelensky said.
“That’s why I think we need to have a real plan, a strong position, and I very much count that we will.”
Mr Zelensky has been calling for firm security guarantees from Nato and more weaponry to ensure that any potential peace deal is sustainable.
But he said that European guarantees alone would not be “sufficient” and the United States needed to be involved. AFP
