Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fear of President Donald Trump could be instrumental in securing a peace agreement.
“[Putin] doesn’t want any peace,” Zelensky said during an interview with NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “But I think he’s really a little bit scared about President Trump, and I think the president has this chance and he’s strong, and I think that really he can push Putin to peace negotiations.”
FULL LIST OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS, ACTIONS, AND PROCLAMATIONS TRUMP HAS MADE AS PRESIDENT
The Trump administration has held initial discussions with Zelensky and Putin about ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to continue those talks.
Trump revealed in a TruthSocial post on Wednesday that he has spoken with Putin on the phone about ending the nearly three-year war.
“As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote on social media. “We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.”
Zelensky said during his Sunday interview that any peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine must include input from Ukrainian leadership, saying there is not “any leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Ukrainian leader also warned about the "risk" of Russia invading other European countries, namely NATO countries in Eastern Europe such as Poland and Lithuania.
“Knowing that he did not succeed in occupying us, we do not know where he will go. There are risks that this can be Poland and Lithuania, because we believe — we believe that Putin will wage war against NATO,” Zelenskyy said.