Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that he understands the “mentality of the Russians” better than President Trump and his officials — as he issued a warning to the president.
Zelensky roundly rejected Trump’s conclusion that Vladimir Putin wants to stop his bloody war on Ukraine, cautioning his Washington counterpart about the Russian tyrant’s true motives.
“With all due respect to President Trump, of course. I think it’s just his personal opinion maybe,” Zelensky told ABC News’ “This Week” in an interview that aired Sunday.
“Inside his [Putin’s] mind, it’s impossible to end this war without total defeat of Ukraine. If Ukraine is not defeated, he will not feel that it’s a victory for him,” he continued.
“Trust me, we understand the Russians much better, the mentality of the Russians, than the Americans understand the mentality of [the] Russians. I know for sure that Putin doesn’t want to stop the war.”
Zelensky’s comments come after Trump told since-suspended ABC News correspondent Terry Moran in April, “I think he does,” when asked if Putin wants peace.
Last week, however, Trump had a roughly 75-minute phone call with Putin, which he described as a “good conversation” but one that he conceded would not lead to “immediate peace.”
Trump has grown increasingly critical of Putin in public, blasting the dictator for the onslaught of drone and missile attacks near civilian enclaves in Ukraine.
Still, the president has balanced that with his desire to be a third-party mediator in the years-long war, pivoting from the Biden administration’s policy of standing steadfastly behind Ukraine.
Zelensky, for his part, continues to rally for Trump to further tighten the screws on the Kremlin as a way to force Putin to stop the bloodhsed.
“They will remain very, very pragmatic if very hard pressure is applied on them, then they will stop the war,” he predicted of the Russians.
“But then the question, the next question will be for how long they will stop this war?
“We know the Russians very well. Without proper securities, strong security guarantees, if we have such, then the peace will be sustainable and long. If there are weak security guarantees, it will just be a pause.”
Zelensky previously agreed to the Trump administration’s proposal for a 30-day cease-fire, which Russia rejected.
As the stalemate continued, Ukraine carried out a daring surprise attack deep in Russian territory at the beginning of June, wiping out dozens of nuclear “doomsday” bombers, as well as other aircraft, with drones.
The stunning “Operation Spider’s Web” attack is believed to have debilitated a substantial proportion of the Russians‘ air force capabilities. Ukraine did not give the Trump administration advance notice of the attack, Axios reported.
“Well, they gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night. That’s the thing I didn’t like about it. When I saw it, I said, ‘Here we go, now it’s going to be a strike,’” Trump told reporters of the top secret operation.
In response, Russia launched about 500 drones on Ukraine overnight Sunday in its largest aerial bombardment since the war began in February 2022, according to Kyiv. Ukrainian forces claimed to have downed about 460 of the 479 drones that pummeled them.
Zelensky also hit back at Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine and Russia are like children “fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart.”
“We are not playing in the park with the Russians like two boys, two kids. Putin is not a kid,” Zelensky countered. “So we can’t compare, and we cannot say, ‘OK, let them fight for a while.’
“It’s not about President Trump,” he went on.
“Anyone living thousands of miles away can’t fully understand the pain, even parents who live in Ukraine cannot feel the pain of those who lost their children.”
Zelensky also acknowledged that Trump believes the Russians are winning the war and disputed that notion.
“It’s not true. It’s not a victory when you spent, really spent 1 million people,” Zelensky stressed.
The Ukrainian leader also claimed that the Trump administration had diverted some 20,000 anti-drone missiles away from Ukraine.
Zelensky’s interview comes amid a growing bipartisan push in Congress to significantly ramp up sanctions on Russia.
