Volodymyr Zelensky has slammed the United States for trying to ‘please’ Vladimir Putin so they can get a ‘quick win’ in talks with Moscow on Ukraine – the outcome of which Kyiv has said it will not accept.
Reacting to conciliatory comments towards Russia by US officials, Zelensky said: ‘The US is now saying things that are very favourable to Putin… because they want to please him.’
‘They want to meet quickly and have a quick win. But what they want – ‘just a ceasefire’ – is not a win,’ he added, according to a translation provided by broadcaster ARD of an interview recorded Saturday in Munich.
‘We [Ukraine] will not sign just anything in order to be applauded… the fate of our state for generations to come [is at stake].’
The Ukrainian President also hit out at Europe, describing it as militarily ‘weak’ and unprepared to face off further Russian aggression if Putin is emboldened to expand his war by a shaky peace deal.
While ‘readiness has increased’ in recent years he said, ‘in terms of troop strength, the number of combat troops, the fleet, the air force, the drones… I honestly think that Europe is weak today,’ he said.
He further stated that Europe would be in a significantly weaker position if it could not rely on the US security umbrella, which Washington has indicated will be scaled back.
President Trump shocked allies last week by announcing he had a direct conversation with Putin on a process to quickly end the war in Ukraine – a dramatic departure from years of the US isolating Moscow.


President Trump shocked allies last week by announcing he had a direct conversation with Putin

The Ukrainian President hit out at Europe, describing it as militarily ‘weak’ and unprepared to face off further Russian aggression
US officials have sought to cast today’s talks in Riyadh as a follow-up to the call and an initial contact between the two parties to determine whether Moscow is serious about ending the war.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters: ‘This is a follow-up on that initial conversation between Putin and President Trump about perhaps if that first step is even possible, what the interests are, if this can be managed.’
However the Kremlin suggested the discussions would cover ‘the entire complex of Russian-American relations’ as it seemingly seeks to make the most of its open communication with Washington.
The meeting marks another pivotal step by the Trump administration to reverse US policy on isolating Russia and is meant to pave the way for a meeting between President Trump and Russian dictator Putin.
Ukrainian officials are not taking part, and Zelensky said on Monday that his country will not accept the outcome if Kyiv does not take part.
‘We cannot recognise any things or agreements about us without us. And we will not recognise such agreements,’ Zelensky has said.
‘Surely, there is a bilateral track there. And the US has the right to do so if they have bilateral issues. To be honest, they talked about it before. Only now have they started talking publicly. Back then, it was like bad manners — to talk to an aggressor during wartime.’
Zelensky said Ukraine had grown more resilient over the past three years and that ‘Putin wouldn’t be able to occupy us the way he wanted to’.
Even so, he warned that ‘there will definitely not be a Ukrainian victory without US support’.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov leaves a hotel ahead of his meeting with a U.S. delegation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 18, 2025

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits next to U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff during the meeting
Zelensky said he and Trump had spoken about deploying foreign troops to police a future ceasefire.
‘I told him the Americans should be a part of this, because otherwise we might lose our unity,’ he said.
At a meeting of Kyiv’s backers in Brussels last week, Hegseth flatly rejected the possibility of a US troop deployment to Ukraine.
When asked whether he would give up the presidency if necessary for an agreement, Zelensky said that ‘for peace I am prepared to do anything’.
‘If tomorrow Ukraine were accepted into the EU and NATO, if Russian troops were to withdraw and we got security guarantees, I wouldn’t be needed anymore,’ he said.
Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday declared that Moscow has no plans to give territory it has seized in Ukraine over to Kyiv.
Lavrov said there could be ‘no thought’ of Moscow giving up land and asked: ‘What sort of territorial concessions do you want — that we give up Russian speakers or rare earths?’
The top Russian minister is visiting Riyadh to meet US officials for talks about the war as Putin and Trump prepare to meet face-to-face.
He said today’s talks will be primarily focused on ‘restoring the entire complex of US-Russian relations, as well as preparing possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and organizing a meeting of the two presidents’.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio is leading the American delegation to Saudi Arabia for direct talks with Russian officials in the coming days to seek an end to the fighting in Ukraine.