In English, Zelenskyy reiterated his message to Vice President JD Vance, whom he met with earlier Friday in Munich, saying that if the U.S. pulled out of NATO, “that will be the destroying of NATO.”
He predicted that without the threat of U.S. military retaliation, Russia would begin occupying parts of Europe, particularly the former Soviet nations. He added that European NATO members don’t have the military capacity to defend themselves without the U.S.
“They will begin from those countries … small countries who’ve been in the USSR, in the Soviet Union,” Zelenskyy said. “But Europe will not answer, because they don’t have — they will begin to defend itself. Each country defends itself.”
He added that he couldn’t predict how much of Europe Putin would seek to occupy but that the “possibility” would always hang over the continent.
Working with Trump
Zelenskyy’s comments come as the Trump administration this week outlined its own goals for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, with Trump revealing on Wednesday that he spoke to Putin over the phone.
“As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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.”
During Friday’s interview, Zelenskyy thanked Trump and other American leaders for their “support” of Ukraine, but added that there is not “any leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us.”
Still, the Ukrainian leader credited Trump for sparking fear in Putin, which could be what ultimately leads to substantial peace talks between the two nations.
“[Putin] doesn’t want any peace,” Zelenskyy said. “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.”
But Zelenskyy implored Trump to approach his conversations with Putin and other Russian leaders while maintaining loyalty to Ukraine. He stressed in the interview that it would be “very difficult” for Ukraine to survive without American military assistance and grappled with the level of trust he has in his partnership with the U.S. at the moment.
“I wanted very much that Ukraine is in [the] priority for Trump, not Russia. And I hope that we are more important,” the Ukrainian president said. “We are not so big as Russia, but I think strategically, Ukraine is more important for the United States, because we are really partners, allies, and we share common values.”
Asked whether he believed Trump was negotiating in good faith, Zelenskyy said, “I hope so. I hope so. Yes, I count on it. I count on it very much.”
“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,” Zelenskyy said at another point in the interview.
He also warned that no one, including Trump, should trust Putin’s words on their face.
“Don’t trust Putin. Don’t trust just words about ceasefire,” the Ukrainian president said, citing his own experience getting close to a peace deal with Russia in 2019 before the deal fell apart.
Asked what he would say to Putin if the two met for peace talks, Zelenskyy called the Russian leader a “killer” and a “terrorist.”
“He is a killer, and he will never change,” Zelenskyy said. “And that’s why this is the dialogue with a terrorist. This is dialogue with a killer. I don’t have such power, enough power to push him out. That’s why I have to speak about it. So, our allies can give me such power to push him out.”
Ukraine’s borders
Zelenskyy also responded to several points Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made this week, with Hegseth saying it’s “unrealistic” for Ukraine to expect to get all of the territory back that Russia has seized since 2014.
