ZELENSKYY TO TRUMP: USE THAT SAME RHETORIC WITH PUTIN
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is challenging Donald Trump to direct his pressure toward the Kremlin, questioning why the American president speaks so forcefully against Ukraine’s leadership while taking a different approach toward Vladimir Putin.
“Trump can force Putin to the negotiating table very easily. Trump must transfer the rhetoric he uses toward me to Putin. Maybe they have a special relationship with Putin, maybe something else—I don’t know what the reason is,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president also pushed back against being blamed for rising diesel prices in the United States. He explained that Ukraine strikes Russian fuel infrastructure in response to Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, and that an energy truce requires Moscow’s participation.
“Putin refuses him. So Trump decides to put the blame on me. We have a good relationship with Trump, and I think it is unfair that he puts the blame on me. He is changing the context.”
Zelenskyy is keeping the door open to cooperation while openly challenging that unfairness. Ukraine is being asked to restrain its response as Russia continues attacking the electricity and heating its people need to survive.
With American midterm elections approaching, diesel prices have become a political pressure point. For Ukrainians, however, the stakes extend far beyond an election: homes, lives and another winter under bombardment.
Zelenskyy’s question deserves an answer. If Trump can demand concessions from Ukraine, why can he not bring that same determination to bear on Putin?
The Ukrainian president is making clear that preserving a relationship with Washington does not mean quietly accepting responsibility for Moscow’s refusal to stop.