Zelenskyy hopes Trump will pressure Putin as he did for Middle East peace
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expects that his US counterpart Donald Trump will apply the same, or even greater, pressure on Russia as he did to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Fox News
Quote: "It [the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip] gives signals for us and hope that with such pressure, what President Trump used in [the] Middle East to make peace, I hope that he will use the same instruments, even more, to pressure Putin to stop his war in Ukraine. I hope so. I spoke about it with [the] president."
Details: Zelenskyy said that Trump had told him during a phone conversation that he "could manage to stop Putin earlier than he can manage to make [a] ceasefire in [the] Middle East".
Trump has stated that the situation in Ukraine is more difficult, the Ukrainian president added.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy noted that "Putin really doesn't want and he doesn't feel full pressure on him" from the United States.
The two leaders discussed during a conversation that "we need two things to make real pressure on Putin". The first, according to Zelenskyy, is "real air defence" and the second is long-range weapons to strike Russia's defence industrial base.
"That's why we spoke about tomahawks and other things," he said.
When asked whether Trump had approved the provision of Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine, Zelenskyy replied: "We work on it and I'm waiting [for a decision] from [the] president. Yes, of course, we count on such decisions, but we will see."
Background:
- On 11 October, Zelenskyy spoke with Trump by phone. According to media reports, one of the topics of conversation was the possibility of Ukraine obtaining Tomahawk long-range missiles.
- The Kremlin said that the possible delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine causes "serious concern" in Russia.
- On 12 October, Zelenskyy held a second phone call with Trump in two days.
- Later, Zelenskyy said that Russia fears that the United States will transfer Tomahawk long-range missiles to Kyiv and therefore, such pressure could help end the war.
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