{"id":7296,"date":"2025-11-09T19:38:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T19:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/11\/09\/volodymyr-zelenskyy-why-should-i-be-afraid-of-donald-trump-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T19:38:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T19:38:05","slug":"volodymyr-zelenskyy-why-should-i-be-afraid-of-donald-trump-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/11\/09\/volodymyr-zelenskyy-why-should-i-be-afraid-of-donald-trump-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Volodymyr Zelenskyy: why should I be afraid of Donald Trump? – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

V<\/span>olodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is not \u201cafraid\u201d of Donald Trump unlike other western leaders and dismissed reports that their last meeting in Washington was volatile, adding that he had good relations with the US president.<\/p>\n

He also said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian that King Charles had helped build relations with Trump and described the British monarch as \u201cvery supportive\u201d of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy was speaking after devastating Russian strikes on the country\u2019s energy grid, leading to power cuts across most Ukrainian regions on Sunday, as engineers sought to restore the network. During the conversation the lights went out twice.<\/p>\n

<\/gu-island><\/figure>\n

The Ukrainian president denied claims Trump had tossed maps of the battlefield aside in a stormy exchange in October at the White House, where he had arrived hoping to secure supplies of US Tomahawk cruise missiles. \u201cHe didn\u2019t throw anything. I am sure,\u201d Zelenskyy said. He described their relations as \u201cnormal\u201d, \u201cbusinesslike\u201d and \u201cconstructive\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the Financial Times<\/a>, Trump had reportedly pressed Zelenskyy<\/a> to accept Vladimir Putin\u2019s maximalist terms for ending the war and said the Russian leader would \u201cdestroy\u201d Ukraine if it did not agree. Zelenskyy said the meeting unfolded differently.<\/p>\n

The visiting Ukrainian delegation set up three stands in front of Trump and his US team, laying out successive measures including weapons and economic sanctions that would \u201cweaken\u201d Moscow, he said. The goal was to reduce Russia\u2019s ability to bomb Ukraine and to force Putin to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n

Speaking at his presidential palace in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said \u201ceveryone in the world\u201d was afraid of Trump. \u201cThat\u2019s the truth,\u201d he added. Asked if that applied to him as well, he said: \u201cNo \u2026 we are not enemies with America. We are friends. So why should we be afraid?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Ukrainian<\/picture><\/div>
<\/svg><\/span>Ukrainian soldiers receive awards to mark national paratroopers\u2019 day at the presidential palace.<\/span> Photograph: Julia Kochetova\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He said: \u201cTrump was elected by his people. We have to respect the choice made by the American people, just as I am elected by my people. The US is our strategic partner, for many years, perhaps even decades and centuries.\u201d The two countries had deep shared values, in contrast with an \u201cimperialist\u201d and revisionist Russia, he suggested.<\/p>\n

He also revealed King Charles had played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in encouraging the US president to support Ukraine more enthusiastically, following a tempestuous Oval Office meeting on camera in February when Trump publicly browbeat Zelenskyy<\/a> and kicked him out of the White House.<\/p>\n

During a state visit to the UK in September<\/a> Trump held a one-on-one meeting with the king. \u201cI don\u2019t know all the details but I understand His Majesty sent some important signals to President Trump,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

He said Trump respected the king and considered him to be \u201cvery important\u201d, a genuine compliment not extended \u2013 he thought \u2013 to very \u201cmany people\u201d. \u201cHis Majesty is very sensitive to our people. Maybe sensitive is not the right word. He\u2019s very supportive,\u201d Ukraine\u2019s president said.<\/p>\n

A few seconds after Zelenskyy sat down to talk to the Guardian, the interview was plunged into darkness when the electricity supply failed inside the Mariinskyi Palace<\/a> in the heart of the Ukrainian capital.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine\u2019s national power grid, leading to frequent blackouts in many towns and cities. Further attacks over the weekend have reduced the country\u2019s energy generating capacity to \u201czero\u201d<\/a>, the state power firm Centrenergo said. Russian drones also hit two nuclear power stations deep in western Ukraine, and Kyiv has called on the UN\u2019s nuclear watchdog to respond.<\/p>\n

However, after a palace backup generator came on the lights flickered into action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are our living conditions,\u201d Zelenskyy said with a wry grin. \u201cIt\u2019s normal. We have fluctuations with electricity in Kyiv, like everywhere else.\u201d He said Putin was ordering \u201cterrorist attacks\u201d on Ukraine\u2019s energy system, killing civilians and leaving them without power and water. \u201cHe can\u2019t create tension within our society in any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/picture><\/div>
<\/svg><\/span>A dark street and residential buildings during a power blackout in Kyiv on Saturday.<\/span> Photograph: Maxym Marusenko\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zelenskyy said he was working closely with international partners to protect Ukraine from nightly Russian drone swarms. So far, though, the UK and other allies have ruled out sending fighter jets to patrol the skies above the centre and west of the country \u2013 a longstanding Kyiv request. Zelenskyy said he wanted to order 27 Patriot air defence systems from US manufacturers. In the meantime, European states could lend Ukraine their existing Patriots, he said.<\/p>\n

Asked if the EU and UK were doing enough, ahead of a freezing and dark winter, Zelenskyy replied: \u201cIt\u2019s never enough. It\u2019s enough when the war ends. And enough when Putin understands that he has to stop.\u201d He said he enjoyed warm relations with Keir Starmer<\/a> and had \u201cconstant contacts\u201d with London. \u201cIt\u2019s not about him [the prime minister] personally,\u201d he said, on the issue of insufficient aid.<\/p>\n

With Trump ruling out US military involvement, the French and UK governments have promised to send troops as part of an eventual peace settlement. Asked if he would like British soldiers to arrive sooner \u2013 to take up a defensive position on Ukraine\u2019s border with Belarus, for example \u2013 Zelenskyy said: \u201cOf course. We\u2019ve been asking for many things including weapons and membership of the EU and Nato.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he said the question of a European armed presence in Ukraine while fighting rages had to be handled carefully. \u201cLeaders are afraid of their societies. They don\u2019t want to be involved in the war,\u201d he said. It was ultimately \u201ctheir choice\u201d over whether to deploy troops. If he pushed too hard, there was a risk Kyiv could lose \u201cfinancial and military support from our partners\u201d.<\/p>\n

In recent days Russian troops have captured most of the eastern city of Pokrovsk<\/a>, after a long and bloody campaign. Zelenskyy said Moscow had thrown enormous forces into its operation \u2013 \u201c170,000 men\u201d \u2013 with the war at its fiercest and most brutal in Donetsk province, Putin\u2019s main objective. \u201cThat\u2019s the whole story. There is no [Russian] success there. And many casualties,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Zelenskyy, Moscow suffered 25,000 soldiers killed and wounded in October \u2013 a record.<\/p>\n

He said the Kremlin was also waging a \u201chybrid war against Europe\u201d and testing Nato\u2019s red lines.<\/p>\n

He argued it was entirely possible Russia would open a second front against another European country before the Ukraine war ended: \u201cI believe so. He can do that. We must forget about the general European scepticism that Putin first wants to occupy Ukraine and then may go somewhere else. He can do both at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Zelenskyy<\/picture><\/div>
<\/svg><\/span>Zelenskyy during his interview with the Guardian. \u2018I want to live in a world where I am simply respected. Not intimidated, not killed. I want to live in such a world.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Julia Kochetova\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ukraine\u2019s president linked the increase in malign activity across Europe \u2013 including a decoy drone incursion over Poland<\/a>, and the later appearance of drones over airports in Copenhagen<\/a>, Munich<\/a> and Brussels<\/a> \u2013 to Russia\u2019s failure to progress significantly on the frontline since the initial months after the 2022 full-scale invasion. \u201cPutin is in a dead-end situation in terms of real success. It\u2019s more like a stalemate for him. That\u2019s why these failures could lead him to look for other territories. It\u2019s very difficult for us but we are at home and defending ourselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He described Russia as a large and aggressive country that needed a big external adversary to unite its different ethnic groups and regions. Putin saw the US and the west as the enemy, he said. \u201cBefriending Russia is not a solution for America. In terms of values, Ukraine is much closer to the US than Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commentators have claimed that Russia\u2019s land-grab in Ukraine \u2013 and Trump\u2019s threat earlier this year to acquire Greenland \u201cone way or another\u201d \u2013 means the post-1945 rules-based order is effectively over. Asked if he agreed, Zelenskyy said: \u201cNo one should impose anything on you from outside. I want to live in a world where I am simply respected. Not intimidated, not killed. I want to live in such a world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy has been Ukraine\u2019s president since 2019 and has been leading his nation for almost four years of gruelling all-out war. How was he bearing up? \u201cWell, I just love Ukraine. I can\u2019t really find any reasons for it, you know. I think that people are held together by something greater than just logic. I love our people very much. It\u2019s hard right now in Ukraine because of the war. But I want to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just before his interview with the Guardian, Zelenskyy gave out awards in a ceremonial hall to a small group of Ukrainian soldiers, to mark national paratroopers\u2019 day. They collected their medals one by one, briskly saluting the president, who is Ukraine\u2019s commander-in-chief. Several were made heroes of Ukraine, the state\u2019s highest honour.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy checked with his aides that his visitors had departed the palace building. They had. \u201cNow we\u2019ve finished we will reduce some electricity consumption here. We need to save it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is not \u201cafraid\u201d of Donald Trump unlike other western leaders and dismissed reports that their last meeting in Washington was volatile, adding that he had good relations with the US president. He also said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian that King Charles had helped build relations with Trump […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}