Zelensky: Trump doesn’t understand ‘that Putin will never stop’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint press conference at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, Saturday Feb. 17, 2024. (Tobias Schwarz/Pool via AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview Sunday that former President Trump seems to not understand that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will never stop.”
“I think Donald Trump doesn’t know Putin,” Zelensky said in an interview Sunday with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “I know he met him … but he never fought with Putin. [The] American Army never fought with the army of Russia. Never … I have a better understanding.”
“I don’t think he understands that Putin will never stop,” Zelensky said.
The interview took place two years after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine has so far fended off Russian aggression, but Ukrainian leaders and U.S. allies have warned of the danger of not providing more military aid to the war-torn democratic nation.
Trump, the GOP front-runner for president, has fed the growing skepticism among some American voters about continued Ukraine aid, making comments that have sparked concern among U.S. allies.
Trump recently said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they wanted” to NATO countries that did not meet their defense spending targets. Trump also refused to say in a recent interview with CNN whether he wanted Russia or Ukraine to win the war.
In his interview on Sunday, Zelensky warned that such a statement is “unbelievable.”
“If Donald Trump doesn’t know whom he will support, Ukraine or Russia, I think that he will have challenges with his society because, to support Russia, it means to be against Americans,” Zelensky told Collins.
Zelensky would not answer whether he wanted to see Trump reelected to the country’s highest office, telling Collins that “the decision who will be the president is a decision of your society.”