Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is counting on Donald Trump to negotiate a peace deal on Russia’s war in Ukraine—though he can only “hope” that Trump has the country’s interests in mind.
Zelensky told Meet the Press he is placing his confidence in Trump to work with him to end the war, even as Trump and his administration have proposed various policy flip-flops regarding the war-torn nation.
“I trust President Trump because he’s the president of the United States, because your people, your people voted for him, and I respect their choice,” Zelensky told moderator Kristen Welker in an interview that aired Sunday.
Still, Zelensky could only offer tepid words when asked whether he thinks Trump is negotiating with him in good faith.
“I hope so. I hope so,” Zelensky said. “Yes, I count on it. I count on it very much.”
U.S. envoys planned to meet with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss peace terms, a meeting Zelensky said he was initially unaware of. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also initially claimed NATO membership was off the table for Ukraine before an official walked it back.
Trump also threw U.S. support for the country in doubt after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Vice President JD Vance said last week the U.S. wants the war to end following a meeting with Zelensky in Munich.
“But of course I want to have real meeting, productive, without just words, with concrete steps, and to hear us, to hear President Trump, to make common plan, and to share it with allies, then with Russians, and stop this war,” Zelensky said.
Trump has said he wants to see an end to the war, though his support for Ukraine has appeared noncommittal. He told Fox News in an interview last week the country “may be Russian someday” and said he wants to mine Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, which are used to build technology.
Zelensky said in the Meet the Press interview he would be open to partnering with the U.S. in a “goodwill” gesture.
“We cannot forget about the main idea that was in the very beginning, that let us protect all that. ‘Help us defend this, and we will make money on this together,’” Zelensky said. ”It’s very important that in this document shall be a term to protect it. And that is the security guarantees. And if we are not given the security guarantees from the United States, I believe that the economic treaty will not work. It must all be fair."
Zelensky also said he would not accept any peace deal negotiated between the U.S. and Russia unless Ukraine had a voice.
“I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine. Never,” he said. “The war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses. And we are thankful for all the support, unity between USA—in USA around Ukraine support, bipartisan unity, bipartisan support, we’re thankful for all of this. But there is not any leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us about us."
