Ukrainian president says US military aid was a ‘grant’ rather than a debt but adds that he wants Trump to be ‘on our side’. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is not willing to cave in to intense US pressure to sign a $500bn minerals deal and that he wants Donald Trump to be “on our side” in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
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Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv ahead of the third anniversary on Monday of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy said he did not recognise the sum demanded by the White House as apparent “payback” for previous US military assistance. He said the figure was far higher than the US’s actual military contribution of $100bn, and pointed out that both parties in the US Congress and the then president Joe Biden had approved the support in the wake of Russia’s attack. It came as a “grant” rather than as “debt” that had to be repaid.
“I’m not signing something that 10 generations of Ukrainians are going to pay later,” he said. Zelenskyy said any deal was contingent on the US administration providing security guarantees to stop Russia from violating any future ceasefire – something it has so far refused to do.
Ukraine’s president also revealed the onerous financial terms which Washington is seeking to impose. For every $1 of any future military aid Kyiv has to pay back $2 – an interest rate, Zelenskyy noted, of 100%. The same conditions were not applied to Israel, the UAE, Qatar or Saudi Arabia, he remarked, saying he had asked for an explanation but not received one.
Zelenskyy insisted he wanted good, “friendly” relations with America – a “strategic partner” - and shrugged off Trump’s bruising description of him as a “dictator” for not holding elections during wartime. “Why should I be offended? A dictator would be offended by being called a dictator,” he said, pointing out he won the last 2019 election with 73% of the vote.
He added that he was ready to quit as president if it meant “peace for Ukraine” or membership of Nato, something the US and some other Nato member states oppose. “I don’t plan to stay in power for decades. But we won’t let Putin stay in power over Ukrainian territories either,” he said. “It’s important what Ukrainians think of me,” he added.
The press conference was held just hours after Russia launched its biggest ever aerial attack on Ukraine, using 267 drones. At least four people were killed across the country. Kyiv echoed with the booms of anti-aircraft fire, as crews spent much of the night trying to shoot the drones down. Three ballistic missiles had also been fired, the air force said.
Zelenskyy said the massive attack demonstrated it was not feasible to conduct a poll under severe wartime conditions. “How can we do this in Sumy? Are we supposed to send election observers to Pokrovsk?” he asked, referring to two Ukrainian cities on the frontline under constant bombardment.
Sign up to Headlines Europe. A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day. after newsletter promotion. The demand for elections – and the claim that Zelenskyy was “illegitimate” – was part of a sweeping Russian disinformation campaign, he suggested. He pointed out that elections were illegal under martial law and that it would be impossible for soldiers standing in trenches to take part.
On Saturday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Trump was “very confident” an agreement could be made to end the war as early as “this week”. Steve Witkoff, one of Trump’s special envoys, hinted on Sunday in a separate interview with CBS News that a motivation for Washington for seeking a Ukraine peace deal was so that American companies would be able to do business again in Russia, which is under sanctions. “Obviously there would be an expectation that if we get to a peace deal, that you would be able to have American companies come back and do business there. And I think that everybody would believe that that would be a positive, good thing to happen,” Witkoff told the Face The Nation programme.
US and Russian negotiators are expected to have a second round of talks, following their meeting last week in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Zelenskyy said it was not possible to reach a meaningful peace deal without Ukraine’s involvement, or without the participation of the EU, the UK and other strategic partners. “It’s impossible to finish the war without one party, without Ukraine. Any bilateral US-Russia deal “would not have any success” or halt the war, he predicted.
Zelenskyy conceded his armed forces would lose 20% of international military support, should the Trump administration stop all deliveries. He said Ukraine was still waiting on deliveries of weapons agreed at the Nato summit in Washington last summer, and need another 20 Patriot missile batteries – costing $30bn- to counter Russian air attacks.
He said he welcomed the role played by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France’s president Emmanuel Macron, who will meet Trump this week. “Of course the UK has to be at the table,” Zelenskyy said. He said he expected a European summit to take place after their US trips to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.
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