Volodymyr Zelenskyy admits only Donald Trump can stop Ukraine war
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a stunning admission about the war in Ukraine while slamming the “mistakes” made by Joe Biden. Follow updates.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has admitted that the war with Russia will only end through Donald Trump’s influence, as he criticised Joe Biden’s handling of the war.
The Ukrainian president said that the absence of a strong US presence in Europe allowed Russia to prepare for an invasion and attack in 2022, following a series of “weak, even treacherous agreements.”
Mr Zelenskyy added that the US remains the only country that can now provide “real security guarantees” for Ukraine and said he was “confident that if President Trump wants to, he can force Putin into peace”.
“President Trump’s recent rhetoric about Putin wasn’t just tough– it was fair. And that’s exactly the kind of Trump that Putin fears,” Mr Zelenskyy wrote on X.
“A strong Trump means a strong America, and a strong America means a strong Ukraine with real security guarantees.
“I am confident that if President Trump wants to, he can force Putin into peace. If the U.S. applies pressure on Putin through the Global South– including China and India—President Trump can negotiate for them to do the same.”
I know President Trump isn’t the biggest fan of NATO topic. But NATO remains the cheapest security guarantee for everyone. What’s the alternative? We need strong security guarantees.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир ЗеленÑький (@ZelenskyyUa) January 29, 2025
The Ukrainian leader also slammed former President Joe Biden, saying that America’s absence in Europe was “a mistake of the previous administration”.
He also revealed that he had urged Mr Biden to “impose the strongest preventive sanctions” on Vladimir Putin before the full-scale invasion, but was told the US would only take action if Russia actually invaded. Mr Zelenskyy described this response as “illogical.”
And while Mr Zelenskyy mostly praised Mr Trump for his stance on the war, he also criticised the US President for his disapproval of NATO.
“I know President Trump isn’t the biggest fan of NATO topic,” he said.
“But NATO remains the cheapest security guarantee for everyone. What’s the alternative? We need strong security guarantees.”
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UKRAINE LAUNCHES MAJOR DRONE ASSAULT ON RUSSIAN OIL REFINERY
A Ukrainian drone attack killed a mother and her toddler in western Russia on Wednesday, local officials said, in a major overnight barrage that set an oil refinery ablaze and targeted a nuclear facility.
The Ukrainian attack over swathes of western Russia is just the latest in a series of escalating Russian and Ukrainian aerial strikes, targeting energy and military facilities over the nearly three-year war.
“The most terrible thing happened as a result of a drone attack on a residential house – a two-year-old child and his mother were killed,” Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod border region said.
Another child and his father were also injured in the strike, he wrote on social media.
Russia’s defence ministry said earlier it had downed 104 Ukrainian drones over western regions including Kursk and Bryansk, with smaller numbers intercepted over Smolensk, Tver, Belgorod and elsewhere.
The drone attack came shortly before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared on Fox News where he seemed to speak directly to US President Donald Trump.
“We want him (Trump) to be on the side of justice, on the side of Ukraine,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
Mr Zelenskyy said he believed if Mr Trump followed through with further sanctions against Russia, it would force them to come to the negotiating table.
“And this is exactly what Putin is afraid of. He doesn’t want strong Trump supporting Ukraine, because it would be strong Ukraine,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
“And the territory — territorial integrity is what every country must respect, even such country as China understands that you cannot interfere with territorial integrity, but he did it.”
Ukraine said their drones hit an oil refinery in the town of Kstovo in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, around 800 kilometres from the front lines in eastern Ukraine.
Falling debris from a drone triggered a fire at the site, Russia said earlier.
“As a result of repelling a drone attack, debris fell on the Sibur-Kstovo enterprise causing a fire to break out,” Sibur, a large petrochemical firm that owns the facility, said on Telegram.
Both Sibur and the regional governor said there were no casualties and firefighters were working to extinguish the blaze.
Images on social media – not verified by AFP – showed a huge blaze illuminating an urban skyline with flames and plumes of smoke rising over buildings.
Ukraine’s SBU security services also said it had hit an oil pumping station and missile warehouse in the Tver region.
Ukraine has previously said it is targeting Russian energy facilities to hamper military logistics and cut off revenues that fund the Kremlin’s invasion effort.
The governor of Russia’s Smolensk region, Vasily Anokhin, also said a Ukrainian drone “was shot down during an attempted attack on a nuclear power facility,” adding there was no damage or casualties.
The governor did not specify which facility, but the Smolensk nuclear power plant is located near the town of Desnogorsk.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said Russia had also launched an overnight drone attack of its own, resulting in air alerts in multiple Ukrainian regions and damage from debris in several.
The Ukrainian air force said it had downed 29 Russian drones over nine mainly southern and eastern regions.
In the southern city of Kherson, mayor Roman Mrochko said a 52-year-old man had been killed in a Russian drone attack, and in the northeastern Kharkiv region an ambulance driver was hospitalised after a drone attack, the national police said.
PUTIN SAYS ZELENSKYY IS ‘ILLEGITIMATE’
Vladimir Putin said his country could hold peace talks with Ukraine, but ruled out speaking directly with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him “illegitimate”.
The Ukrainian President responded by saying that his Russian counterpart was “afraid” of negotiations and was using “cynical tricks” to prolong the nearly three-year conflict.
US President Donald Trump has put pressure on both sides to end the fighting since coming into office on January 20, threatening tougher sanctions on Russia while claiming that Mr Zelenskyy is ready to negotiate a “deal”.
“If (Mr Zelenskyy) wants to participate in the negotiations, I will allocate people to take part,” Mr Putin said, calling the Ukrainian leader “illegitimate” because his presidential term expired during martial law.
“If there is a desire to negotiate and find a compromise, let anyone lead the negotiations there … Naturally, we will strive for what suits us, what corresponds to our interests,” he added.
Mr Zelenskyy said that there was a chance to achieve “real peace” but that the Kremlin chief was frustrating efforts to stop the fighting.
“Today, Mr Putin once again confirmed that he is afraid of negotiations, afraid of strong leaders, and does everything possible to prolong the war,” Mr Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Kyiv has warned against it being excluded from any peace talks between Russia and the US, accusing Mr Putin of wanting to “manipulate” Mr Trump.
‘WAR WOULD END IF THE WEST CUT TIES’
Mr Putin also claimed the fighting would end in two months or less if the West cut its support to Kyiv.
“They will not exist for a month if the money and, in a broad sense, the bullets run out. Everything would be over in a month and a half or two,” Mr Putin said in comments to a state TV reporter.
The conflict has shown no signs of de-escalating despite Mr Trump’s promise to enact a quick ceasefire once in office.
Russia’s army said Tuesday that its forces had captured a large village in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, the latest territorial gain for Moscow’s advancing troops.
The Russian defence ministry said its forces had “liberated” the village of Dvorichna, which had a pre-conflict population of more than 3,000.
The village, located across the strategic Oskil river, was seized by Moscow at the start of its full-scale military offensive in 2022, before being retaken by Kyiv months later in a swift counteroffensive.
Ukrainian military bloggers, with links to the defence ministry, also said Russian forces were advancing on the flanks of Chasiv Yar, a strategic hilltop town that was home to around 12,000 people before the conflict.
Ukraine’s army has been pushed back over the past year, outgunned and outmanned by Russia’s troops across the 1,000km front line.
Ukraine’s government dismissed a deputy defence minister in charge of weapons purchases on Tuesday, after the defence minister accused him of having “failed” to ensure the “timely supply of ammunition” to soldiers.
US FOREIGN AID FREEZE HITS HARD
Numerous Ukraine-based humanitarian projects have had their financing suspended due to the US freeze on foreign aid, prompting alarm in the war-battered country.
Almost three years after Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has become extremely dependent on foreign aid for humanitarian work, with the United States providing billions of dollars of that help.
Organisations that support veterans, local media and healthcare are among those who have had their funding curtailed by Washington, with many small local press outlets and aid groups announcing on social networks that they would have to close as a result.
“Most of the projects have received an order to stop,” a source at the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) mission in Ukraine told AFP.
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered a halt to virtually all US foreign aid except for funding to Israel and Egypt, according to an internal memo.
It came after US President Donald Trump signed an order to temporarily suspend foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews of their funding.
A number of Ukrainian and international NGOs wrote on social media that they were affected by the freeze.
Olga Kucher of Veteran Hub told AFP the Ukrainian NGO on Monday had to pause the work of its branch in the central city of Vinnytsia.
The organisation offers legal consultations and psychological support to veterans and their loved ones.
“We do not know how long this will last,” she said, adding that the group had launched an appeal asking Ukrainian companies to help fund its operations.
Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, USAID has provided Ukraine with $A4.1 billion in humanitarian aid, $A7.9 billion in development assistance and more than $A30 billion in direct budget support, according to its website.
TRUMP TEAM NOT IN TOUCH WITH KREMLIN: RUSSIA
No-one in US President Donald Trump’s new administration has made contact with the Kremlin about setting up a meeting with Vladimir Putin, Russian officials have said.
Mr Trump, who took office last week, told reporters he was willing to meet the Russian president “immediately” to reach a deal on ending the nearly three-year conflict in Ukraine, but neither side has indicated when talks might happen.
“Contacts with the new administration have not started,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian state news agencies on Monday local time, adding there had been no “direct” communication with members of Mr Trump’s administration.
“What we have in terms of dialogue with Washington is carried out through embassies, as before,” he added.
The Kremlin said both leaders appeared ready for a high-level meeting, but that it was still waiting for word from Washington.
“So far, we have not received any signals from the Americans. The readiness remains. The same readiness, as we have heard, remains on the American side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The Ukraine crisis has plunged relations between the two nuclear powers to their lowest levels since the Cold War.
In a post on his Truth Social network last week, Mr Trump said he was “not looking to hurt Russia” but would impose more sanctions and hike tariffs on the country if Mr Putin did not make a deal to settle the conflict.
Late last week, Mr Putin said he was ready for talks, praising Mr Trump as a “smart” and “pragmatic” man who might have prevented the Ukraine offensive from starting in the first place.
Kyiv has warned against it being excluded from any peace talks, accusing Mr Putin of wanting to “manipulate” Mr Trump.
ZELENSKYY’S APPEAL TO TRUMP
Russia claims to have captured the strategically important Ukrainian town of Velyka Novosilka, as Vladimir Putin’s forces continue their push in the Donetsk region.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern forces confirmed on Monday (local time) that Russian soldiers had entered the town, but said that fighting continued on the outskirts.
With concerns that Russia could advance further towards Pokrovsk, president Volodymyr Mr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday that he had replaced the commander of military formation responsible for defending the key city for the third time in a year.
Mr Zelenskyy has also made a demand for Kyiv to be included in talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine that he believes could happen under Donald Trump’s US presidency.
The Ukrainian president said that the terms of any deal that might arise under the new US president were still unclear – and might not even be clear to Mr Trump himself – because Mr Putin had no interest in ending the war.
Meanwhile, Russia claimed its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones overnight.
– with Agence France-Presse (AFP)
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Originally published as Volodymyr Zelenskyy admits only Donald Trump can stop Ukraine war
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