- 6/19/2025
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks about his relationship with Donald Trump, his doubts, and whether Ukraine can win the war with Russia in an interview with the Axel Springer Global Reporters network, which Business Insider is part of.
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00:00Do you regret anything you said back in the days in the Oval Office?
00:05Do you think you said something wrong?
00:07I'm sorry that it was like this.
00:11I'll explain it because we don't have so many times in life.
00:21Trump also commented on the Operation Spiderweb.
00:25He was actually criticizing it and said,
00:29this is not helpful for the peace process.
00:32How does it make you feel?
00:34I think that his impression of the fact that he was associated with Putin
00:39and he certainly said,
00:42there will be a complaint for this operation.
00:44Mr. President, thanks for having us.
00:47Last week I was in the Oval Office with Friedrich Merz, our Chancellor,
00:51and asked Donald Trump a question.
00:53I asked him when he would be ready to go for sanctions against Putin,
00:58because in the past he was threatening with sanctions, but he never did something.
01:04His answer was that Ukraine and Russia are like children on a playground at that war.
01:10You probably heard about it.
01:11And when I asked him about a deadline, he said that deadline is in my brain.
01:18Do you still have hope that Trump will act?
01:22Yes.
01:23I'm very hopeful that Trump will act.
01:25I'm hopeful that Trump will act.
01:27I think that Trump will act.
01:28I think that he will act as to the end of the war.
01:32He's a person who came to the leadership of the United States of America.
01:39And I think that the question is not in the way that during the elections there were signals that he will be able to end the war.
01:49But the question is not in the elections.
01:51The question is that he is in a special status and in a special age.
01:56When I think this is important for him, I really believe in this.
02:02I hope that for him it is important to end the war.
02:05He often said that for him it is important to end the war.
02:10I don't say how to end the war.
02:13We really do not know about the end.
02:17But the path to the end, in any case, goes through the end of the war.
02:22And it is really difficult to end the war.
02:29Well, at least, now it looks like it is so.
02:32But the end of the war he can do.
02:36The sanctions, which I have told him, are in his hands.
02:43And I think that this is important.
02:47The power of sanctions, how much this packet will be strong, depends on him.
02:53The speed of this decision, depends on him.
02:57Because we do not see the opposition between senators and senators.
03:02And the opposite.
03:03The opposite.
03:04They all want.
03:06The most, let's say so.
03:08The most, let's say so.
03:10And so, once there is, there is a protest.
03:13This is not.
03:14It means that Trump can do it.
03:17President Trump can do it.
03:19I, in general, think that he can, in my opinion,
03:22on me, might be a little bit on this.
03:24Because for him the inner question is important.
03:27But historically, the most important part of the foreign question is in America.
03:32The American political political.
03:34But I think that historically, for him, it can still be nothing important to bring peace.
03:42Peace to the world.
03:44And today it is very important that this decision is here, in Ukraine.
03:50Standing there in the Oval Office and watching Donald Trump talking, seeing J.D. Vance in front of me on the couch, I was immediately thinking about the pictures I saw when you were there, when you were sitting next to Donald Trump.
04:06You also have been there.
04:08I wasn't there when you were there, but I saw it live on TV.
04:11I mean, it was quite a scene.
04:12It's another thing.
04:13It's another thing.
04:14So, but I was thinking, like, I mean, how was it for you back in the days?
04:20Are you still thinking about it?
04:22You're gambling with World War III, and what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that's back to you, far more than a lot of people said they should have.
04:34I didn't think about it.
04:36Well, I mean, for example, why do you think about it every day?
04:42We have a war, and what do you think about it then in the Oval Office?
04:48I mean, I was always absolutely honest.
04:50I believe that it was not close to us.
04:54It's not close to any kind of result.
04:58And you know, it's not close to us.
05:02It's not close to us.
05:04It's not close to us.
05:06It's not close to us.
05:08Yes, but it is in the past, and today we must do everything,
05:14so that the next to the end of the cabinet was very successful for both countries.
05:20Of this depends on the life, the peace for many countries.
05:27Many countries in Europe depend on whether there will be peace in Ukraine,
05:32whether there will be safety in this region.
05:34And of this depends on the stability and peace in many countries of the world.
05:38I am absolutely right.
05:41Do you regret anything you said back in the days in the Oval Office?
05:46Do you think you said something wrong?
05:48I regret it.
05:49I regret it, that it was so.
05:53I explain.
05:55Because we have not so much time in life.
05:58I really wanted to make a decision.
06:02We didn't get to very important decisions.
06:06I don't know whether America was ready for such decisions,
06:09or not.
06:11I mean, I need to solve the question of the war.
06:14Listen to me.
06:15I see it as long as well.
06:16I do it.
06:17I guarantee it is that krgh times,
06:18I will try to solve thefeet of our country.
06:20It's fine.
06:21I don't have time to cope with intimate connections.
06:23This mess of your country,
06:26all of the problems in people.
06:29I mean, the完全 doesn't have time to cope with resistance.
06:32That's what I do.
06:33I just have to do my own work. But I have to do it properly. And that's why sometimes it happens.
06:45And that's why I need to make decisions. They depend on cooperation with countries.
06:55After this meeting you tried to win Trump over.
07:02You immediately supported his proposal for a 30-day ceasefire.
07:09You flew to Turkey. You thanked him repeatedly in tweets.
07:14But Trump is still not putting any pressure on Russia.
07:19And he criticized you as often as he criticizes Putin.
07:23How does it make you feel?
08:57And he told me that they understand this.
09:00In the past weeks everybody in the world was talking about operation Spiderweb.
09:07And what really happened there. And how it was possible.
09:10What your secret service but your military did.
09:14First of all, I knew it.
09:16Second of all, I knew it.
09:17Second of all, I knew it was related to the war.
09:21How many of the houses and trucks are still in Russia?
09:36I didn't have to go to the phone. I didn't have to go to the phone. I didn't have to go to the phone and talk about these details, which I can't tell you now.
09:45How many of the houses and trucks are still in Russia? Or will you next time try with patrons in Russia? What's the next idea you have to attack Russia?
09:57First of all, we don't talk about our steps. We don't talk about our steps. We don't talk about those or other steps.
10:22But, of course, we demonstrate, we demonstrate, we demonstrate, the operation of the high level.
10:30And, of course, when we go about thousands of kilometers from our border,
10:44And, of course, there is no way to protect all the forces of the enemy.
10:50And, of course, we talk about the new stage of this war.
10:54And, of course, I think that in America, we need to do everything, so that the war ends.
11:01And, of course, there is no future stages of this war.
11:06We don't have to protect ourselves. We must protect ourselves.
11:10And, of course, all of which and how we can.
11:14And the war will develop technologies.
11:18And, of course, we must think about all this war.
11:23And, of course, we must know that the war is not only our technology.
11:28We must develop not only our technologies.
11:29We must develop technologies that have left our people's generation.
11:31And so we must continue the war to make some changes in the future.
11:44And, of course, we must continue to embrace these technologies.
11:47And, of course, we must do everything in the future of other countries.
11:51in the past days and weeks Trump also commented on the operation spiderweb and he was actually criticizing it and said this is not helpful for the peace process. How does it make you feel?
12:16I think that he has a feeling from the fact that he spoke with Putin and said that there will be a complaint for this operation.
12:26And I think that President Trump said that Putin said and he thinks that Putin, as he said, he doesn't lie and there will be a reaction.
12:36I think that he would have predicted his dialogue with Putin. I'm not sure, I don't know about what he said.
12:44But, to me, it seems to me that it must be very clear to look at what Putin is doing. Putin has a lot of attack.
12:54And so, he needs to be provided for the support of the international community, for his own society, for his own society, for his own society.
13:04And even when he has already been in contact with his own society, he believes in these radical steps, he still needs to support this force.
13:15He has been in contact with his own information, he is also in the environment, and so he has the opportunity to fight for him.
13:25However, during the time, during our operation during the time, during the time, during the time, who no one knew in Russia and so she came out from Russia,
13:36And after that time, they shot a record number of drones and rockets from Ukraine.
13:43That's why he is looking for the reasons of attacks from Ukraine.
13:49He just doesn't want to finish the war.
13:52Why does Trump still take Putin seriously? Why is that? Because of all that happened...
13:58He believes that he will make him finish the war?
14:02You know, he's all right. And other reasons are not known.
14:07This is a reason, which is not official, we hear it in the media and in the Senate.
14:16But other reasons are difficult to say.
14:21Because I also talked to other head of states in the past months about that.
14:27Their impression was, always after Vladimir Putin talked to Donald Trump, he had a totally different approach than the days before, when he was talking to you or European leaders.
14:38So is he changing his opinion every day related to whom he was on the phone with?
14:46I don't know.
14:48I don't know.
14:49For example, after the official cabinet, about which you talked about,
14:53there was a number of contacts on different levels.
14:56Then there was a meeting in the Vatican.
14:58There were many contacts.
15:01There were many contacts.
15:02Yes, there were many contacts.
15:04And our direct contacts, or strong contacts with his leaders.
15:08And we spoke openly about sanctions, about everything.
15:12And we were constructive.
15:13Because the official sound sometimes from Trump is, I wouldn't say hostile, but he is criticizing Putin and at the same time he is criticizing you.
15:23And this is kind of surprising if we see that, I mean, Russia attacked your country.
15:28It's true.
15:29Well, look at this.
15:30It's true.
15:31Well, look at this.
15:33It's a time.
15:34It's a time, you know, where he can very strongly influence the possibility of ending the war.
15:51For this像, it's also a time for the end of the war.
15:52The President Trump has a little bit of a time.
15:53And the President Trump is at the center of the war, and he can fly.
15:58He can fly.
15:59He can fly, he can fly.
16:00But he can not fly.
16:01Russian people do it, so that America won't fly.
16:06They would deal with it.
16:07They will take it from different directions.
16:12And for them it's important to show Trump, what the diplomatarian state is.
16:18The diplomatic city is a diplomatic city between Ukraine and Russian, and that this dialogue is without the Americas, but there is a dialogue.
16:31To solve two questions, one of the main questions, believe me, one of the main issues.
16:36If you don't put sanctions against Russian, if you don't put sanctions against Russian, if you don't put sanctions against Russian, you can't put sanctions against Russian.
16:51So there are such risks.
16:54And the second one is to show that the dialogue is without European-Americans.
17:00And then the Russians solve two questions.
17:08The long war without the help of partners.
17:13This is, in principle, an ideal format for Putin.
17:18The long war without the help of partners and the sanctions Russia doesn't hit.
17:24In Ukraine, it is also very difficult.
17:27We don't want any long war, any long time.
17:31But we will play either by their rules, or by their rules.
17:37And in the rules of Russian, we will get these two things.
17:43To make America out of the war, to push them into the war, but by the positive.
17:50And to make America not put sanctions on the hand.
17:52To make America not put sanctions on the hand.
17:56And I think President Trump is here.
17:58He thinks about this.
17:59He thinks about this.
18:03I believe it.
18:05So, apart from what he thinks, there are people who say something, but it is very important to raise sanctions.
18:13It is very important. It is important to not to go on the path of the game of Putin.
18:20It is very important to raise sanctions and all-таки to force it to stop him,
18:28to give him the opportunity to talk about the end of his life.
18:33These two things Trump has to do.
18:36I think that, of course, his family is important for him.
18:40The interests of America are important.
18:42I don't want to set up priorities and I won't.
18:45But I think that his very important mission,
18:51because he can have this, it is to stop Putin.
18:57Critics would say, critics against Ukrainian help would say the sanctions haven't helped in the past three and a half years.
19:08It didn't stop Putin to attack Ukraine.
19:11It didn't stop Putin to mobilize more soldiers.
19:14It didn't stop Putin at any point.
19:16And we can see that he says, I will go on until I will reach my targets, my war targets.
19:24So why do you think that more sanctions will help?
19:27Well, I think that many sanctions should have been made to the beginning of the war.
19:32I've always talked about this.
19:34Even in the first day of the war, the second day of the war,
19:38it was, if I'm honest, already late.
19:40If we wanted immediately a quick result,
19:43to stop the aggressor,
19:45to stop the aggressor,
19:47to stop the aggressor,
19:48it's bringing a big package to the war.
19:50Well, let's start moving forward.
19:52Not yet.
19:53Not yet.
19:54Not yet.
19:55Not yet.
19:56Not yet.
19:57Not yet.
19:58Not yet.
19:59Not yet.
20:00Not yet.
20:01Not yet.
20:02But then we will not work.
20:03In any case of this.
20:04The first mistake.
20:05The second mistake.
20:06The mistake.
20:07Not yet.
20:09The mistake.
20:10Not yet.
20:11Make theöffentment...
20:12To adapt to the economic,
20:16ammunition,
20:17military companies,
20:18or the PRC, to adapt to the United States,
20:21it is a fair amount of funding for the sanctions.
20:25Adaptation, for example, not for the entire banking system,
20:28but for some banks that work,
20:31to put in the sanctions.
20:33Not to put the price on the oil,
20:36but a little bit of funding for it.
20:39Putin is another person, he doesn't understand.
20:45He can't be able to do it like a lion,
20:51like a lion, like a lion.
20:53He can't be able to do it.
20:54There needs to be a hard time,
20:58a hard time to do it,
20:59to immediately work.
21:01In other words, it just doesn't work.
21:03He adapts.
21:05He adapts, because it is his life,
21:08any kind of essence in the world.
21:12He adapts to survive.
21:15And that's why it was a mistake.
21:17Now, it's a bad thing.
21:21You know, as a country, I don't want to say,
21:23I say, how do I help you?
21:25And I say, leader of this country,
21:27let's put in sanctions.
21:28And he says,
21:29well, sanctions are going on for my economy.
21:31Let's give you some money.
21:32And I'll help you,
21:33I'll help you in the defense,
21:35and so on.
21:36And all the people around the world,
21:37they don't look at it,
21:39whether this country had power in sanctions,
21:42or not.
21:43They all applaud.
21:45Bravo!
21:46They say to this leader.
21:47Bravo!
21:47He helped.
21:48He gave 200 million dollars.
21:51No, not bravo.
21:53But people want to buy it.
21:59And so it's not easy to stop.
22:02It's a great deal.
22:03It's a great deal.
22:04And why do those who say that
22:06they don't work, they don't have to do it.
22:08They don't have to do it.
22:09But Putin is already feeling,
22:10believe me.
22:11He feels,
22:13that he starts to suffer the economy.
22:16But he is suffering.
22:17He just wants to win the time,
22:19so he doesn't have to be more strong sanctions.
22:22Because he will still hold some time,
22:25because he will still hold it.
22:26Because he wants to be,
22:27so Ukraine will go to the ultimate.
22:30And Trump needs to be in such sanctions,
22:33so that Putin immediately says,
22:35OK, let's talk about the end of the war.
22:38Otherwise, he will not tell.
22:41The situation in cities like Odessa,
22:45where we are right now,
22:46in Kyiv,
22:47it's very difficult.
22:49What we've seen in the past days,
22:51is that the response of Putin
22:53after the operation Spiderweb
22:56or was that planned before?
22:58So why are these attacks
23:00we're witnessing are happening now?
23:02What is your...
23:03What do you think?
23:04You know,
23:05it's a different weapon,
23:07it's a different weapon.
23:08It's, you know,
23:08when he was a massive attack
23:10for our operation,
23:14a massive attack on us.
23:16It was a massive attack on us.
23:16It was a massive attack on us.
23:20And then,
23:22after this,
23:23he was able to find out
23:24not to be a massive attack on us.
23:26in order to get the weapons.
23:28This is not quite true.
23:32People understand that they are deeply in war,
23:35they understand that they are using technology,
23:38and they understand that they need time to
23:39use drones, to use rockets,
23:42to set these rockets,
23:45to change the routes of the relevant
23:48rocket-runsies and all those.
23:51We all learn the routes of the enemy,
23:54It's not just one day I wanted to do it, but it's massive and there's a plan to bombard every day.
24:03They wanted.
24:05They waited for warm days, when there will not be a proficiency of energy energy.
24:10And they will be on the energy, on the civil side, to our people and so on.
24:18They were prepared for the same period.
24:21We understand, that they had to do it in the same period.
24:24But they will then be able to do it.
24:26For example, for them, there was a very important day for them.
24:34It was the 9th of July.
24:35If something happened with 9th of July, it just happened,
24:41there was an operation,
24:44and then he would say,
24:46that we would break the parade,
24:49that we would break the war,
24:50that we would break the war,
24:51that we would break the war,
24:52and he would break the punches.
24:54That's why he needed to find a reason.
24:57And the system of attacks,
25:00it was his decision.
25:02This year,
25:04summer, summer, summer, summer.
25:07The system of attacks on Ukraine,
25:09and offensive operations.
25:12This is his plan.
25:14And he led this plan.
25:16And this one can stop only with a ceasefire
25:19or other decisions.
25:22I would like to say that.
25:25So, he will continue this.
25:27In this way,
25:28in this way,
25:29in this way,
25:30in this way,
25:31in this way,
25:32in this way,
25:33it is less,
25:34it isn't going to be less,
25:35because at some point
25:36there will be no components.
25:37The amount of people may be less,
25:38the amount of figure,
25:40if a month, two, three,
25:41it will leave less strategic weapons.
25:42So,
25:47this should be a system,
25:52as it is needed to stop the aggression.
25:55Let's talk about the situation
25:58at the front line right now.
25:59Your armies under pressure.
26:01Not only in Donetsk,
26:02but also now in Dnipro at the same time Putin is apparently preparing a summer
26:09offensive in Sunni let's go upon like it is and you sadly more support but if
26:16it's going on like it is will you lose this war because Putin is actually
26:21making more and more territory even if it's not fast but he wins every day a
26:28little bit more an emission operations a little bit more an
26:33an entry between Russia's first 18-20 hats up to Sumen
26:39it is about what we were talking about two things more intensive
26:46events that just coincide with some things pointing
26:50through energy and the thing but the next updates
26:53happen they wanted of an outst duas
26:57They didn't succeed in the next step, because we broke a lot of their army, and we gave them all the opportunity to join them.
27:06It's still their goal to join them, and to join the next step.
27:13However, I'll tell you again, we are in this moment.
27:17They are now doing these right things, but they are, as they say, not everything is successful.
27:25If you stop the enemy with the right tools, and if you have them will,
27:36I think they will not succeed, to win this fight.
27:42If you stop the help, there are no sanctions,
27:48there is a level of support of Putin's political support,
27:53there is a meeting with the U.S.
27:58If there are the same summit, where we see that there is no support of Ukraine,
28:03there is a political context, and the political compass begins to look at the other side.
28:13If all this will be, it's a long path,
28:17then there will be more chances for Russians.
28:25But the narrative that they won't win this war is only for Russians.
28:32And the fact that in some areas of the United States
28:35support this signal that Russians won't win this war,
28:38they will not be enough to win this war,
28:40if they will be partners with us.
28:43They will not be enough.
28:45What do you tell people who would argue Russia has so much more people,
28:52is so much bigger than Ukraine,
28:54they can conscript much more soldiers than you can.
28:57And if we see the situation of Ukraine right now,
29:00you have a massive problem with mobilization.
29:03There is not enough Ukrainians who want to go to the front line.
29:08That is what even partners say and what partners criticize.
29:13And, I mean, I've spent a long time in Ukraine during the war
29:18and talked to many Ukrainians.
29:20And even my very personal feeling when I talk to people is,
29:25especially young people tell me they don't want to go to the front line.
29:29They don't want to die.
29:30They're afraid of going there.
29:32So do you have a problem with that, with mobilization?
29:36What would you, I mean, if your son would be 18, 19, 20 now,
29:41what would you tell him, if he comes to you and tells you,
29:44dad, I don't want to go to the front line?
29:47Well, I've got to go to the front line.
29:54Yeah.
29:55The biggest question is people, and I just believe that we are coming to this question.
30:07This is not the water, which you throw in the water.
30:10This is living people.
30:12We are not talking to people like the Russians.
30:15We have to finish the war.
30:18There is no endless mobilization.
30:22No one cannot love mobilization, as no one cannot love war.
30:27No one, adequate person, cannot love war.
30:32Mobilization is a part of this tragedy under the name of aggression of Russia, under the name of war.
30:39So we need to stop her.
30:41But the main goal of Putin is to completely destroy us and destroy us.
30:45And that's why we protect ourselves.
30:47This is not only constitutional obligation to protect us.
30:51This is survival.
30:53We just take our lives and our country and our houses.
30:58We see that with houses and people, where Russia came from.
31:03What is it?
31:04Everything is ruined?
31:05What is in those villages?
31:07In the fall of war.
31:08Well
31:22So, the consequences, when the Russians come, are different, and all are not positive. And that's why we protect ourselves.
31:34And now we protect ourselves, and now, praise God, the world already understands that Putin came to war and does not want to end it.
31:47Because he really has his results, with which he came, no one has reached.
31:55No result on today he really did not reach. And high value of what he did not reach, he paid high value.
32:05We, unfortunately, paid very high value and paid. And so this is a very important moment to end the war.
32:18I am here, my family in Ukraine, my children in Ukraine.
32:25When there is a fire, we go to bombage.
32:28When there is a war, we are in the same conditions, in which all the other people are.
32:35And this is very important.
32:37There is no special relation to my children.
32:41The most special relation to other people.
32:47No.
32:48We all live in Ukraine.
32:50We all fight for them.
32:52We all want to end the war.
32:55This is my advantage.
32:58How often do you have doubts yourself?
33:02We're sitting here in the Winston Churchill room, that's what it's called here.
33:06Even Churchill, during the Second World War, fighting Nazi Germany, had doubts.
33:12And, you know, if you read his biography, there were dark days.
33:16He was thinking, I can't win this war, I will not win it.
33:20Do you have also doubts?
33:22Do you have these dark moments sometimes?
33:25I'm an ordinary guy, and I think that I have.
33:30But I have maybe even not less than anybody in Ukraine.
33:39But the difference is that I'm the president.
33:44And till the end of the war, and I'm sure we will finish with this war.
33:51So till the end of the war, I will never, never show weak moments, weakness, and will never share my dark days to anybody.
34:08But after, I'll be very open for such discussion.
34:13Thank you very much, Mr. President, for your time, and all the best.
34:17Thank you so much.
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