Posted originally on the CTH on February 16, 2025 | Sundance

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears on Meet the Press to discuss his position toward ending the conflict with Russia.  Within the conversation [04:11], Zelenskyy said, “I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine.”

President Zelenskyy represents the interests of the European Union, multinational corporations, various elements of NATO memberships, the World Economic Forum, the CIA division within the U.S. State Dept., western banks and a confab of various western intelligence operations.  After that, he represents the interests of Ukrainians.  This is why he will not permit elections.

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The looming confrontation between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with all the aforementioned interests Zelenskyy supports, is going to be something very interesting.

The interview is almost an hour.  I am embedding the transcript below; if you are short of time, you can read and review at your leisure.

      KRISTEN WELKER:
President Zelenskyy, welcome back to Meet the Press.
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
Thank you so much.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Thank you for being here. It is an honor to have you. Ukraine is approaching the third
anniversary of Russia's invasion into your country. My condolences to you for all of the lives that
have been lost. You are here --
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
Thank you.
KRISTEN WELKER:
– at the Munich Security Conference, and just a short time ago you spoke with the secretary of
state and the vice president about the state of the war. Was that a productive meeting? What
came of it?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
I think it was good. Good conversation, good meeting. The first one, it's really, to be honest, I
don't believe that a lot of leaders during the first meeting have very constructive and very
decisive meeting. Now it's about, you know, about relations, how to feel each other and to begin
to make some really productive, you know, steps – steps to do something very important, in this
case, for Ukraine, for our security, for our people. And for both nations, I'm sure maybe not
everybody in the United States or in Europe are sure that a lot of things depends on security in
Ukraine in the world. I'm sure that Putin doesn't want to stop and he wants to go further and
further. So, I'm sorry that I'm jumping. Yeah, but I wanted to say that I think that the meeting was
good. We have to understand each other. That also the Secretary Rubio was and the special
envoy Kellogg, General Kellogg, he will come on 20th to Ukraine, and we make this decision. I
want – I think he was surprised, but I said to him that, "If you will come, we will go to the front." I
said to him that, yes, maybe it's too dangerous. I don't know. But if you really have to
understand – the new administration – they really have to understand what's going on on the
battlefield not from, you know, only from information from media, to see what's going on.
KRISTEN WELKER:
We are going to delve into your views on President Putin. But to follow up on what you said,
from this meeting, did you gain any clarity? What is the Trump administration's peace plan? Do
they have one?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
First of all, I think, no, they don't have a real plan because they can't have it without us. I think
so. Maybe there are some ideas. And I heard some ideas about the economy, how to secure
economy, how to invest. We spoke mostly about it with the vice president. I think security
    

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      guarantee is totally the question of the president. With all respect to vice president, but it's about
more to president because he is the president of the United States, and he is the leader of
NATO, and it's been the leader of security alliances. So – but economy, I mean, it's a big part of
security. We need it very much. We need a real contract if both sides are happy because our
people have to be happy. Yes, otherwise we can't just pressure on society. So I hope that we will
prepare the economy, and we'll prepare the contract, the document where business of the
United States will invest, where we can be partners, but we have to make some steps further,
and we have to – the lawyers have to work more for this document.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let me ask you about something that President Trump said this week. He did not say yes when
he was asked if he sees Ukraine as an equal member in the peace process. He did say later
that Ukraine would have a seat at the table. Have you been given any assurances that Ukraine
will have an equal seat at the negotiating table?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
So I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine.
Never. And our people, never. And our adults, and children, and everybody, it can't be so. The
war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses. And we are thankful for all the support,
unity between USA – in USA around Ukraine support, bipartisan unity, bipartisan support, we're
thankful for all of this. But there is no any leader in the world who can really make a deal with
Putin without us about us. Of course, the United States can have a lot of decisions, economical
partnership, and et cetera. We're not happy with it, but they can have with Russians. But not
about this war without us. And that's why I think that what we need, very closely to work and
quicker. I think we lose time now quicker to work on the plan, common plan. So we’re ready
because United States is our – the biggest strategic partner. We are ready not only to share our
plan. We're ready to put common plan with President Trump. And of course we need support
from EU. It's important. They are also big donators during this war. And we will be the members
of future European Union. That's why we need the support of Europe. And this common plan,
we have to discuss with Russians, and we will. And at the table, it's very important to hear
America, Europe, Ukraine and Russia. Yes.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Has the president, has the vice president, given you an assurance that Ukraine will have an
equal seat at the negotiating table, which, as you just said, is critical to any peace plan?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
Yeah, I understood, to be honest, that we have common view on it. But there are messages, as
you said, right, in media some messages which are, you know, make disappointment, yes? Is it
right word in English? Sorry. Yeah, disappointment for a lot of leaders of Europe, because they
also feel sometimes that they are out of decisions. And I said to them that they have to be in
unity with the United States. Otherwise, not only United States can lose Europe as a strategic
partner, Europe also can lose the United States. And I'm in this interesting -- both, you know, of
continents that’s not to lose, because this is really, really the biggest and the strongest allies in
    

p. 3

      the world. I think so. That's why we have this place at the table at the very beginning. And we
are the first who are at this table because the war is in Ukraine.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Can you accept any peace deal that is cut without Ukraine?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
No.
KRISTEN WELKER:
And do you feel like you have a seat at the table right now?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
I not only count on it, I'm sure that we have to be there. Otherwise, it's not acceptable. But if
there is a decision without us and Putin will go out from all our land, we will be in NATO, and
Putin will be in the prison, so President Trump can do it without us.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let me ask you about your phone call with President Trump earlier this week. It came on the
heels of his call with President Putin. Does Mr. Trump's direct communication with Vladimir Putin
before speaking to you unnerve you?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
No, no. We spoke about it, by the way, with President Trump. And I said that I know that we had
already phone calls, yes, both of us, and it's okay that he phoned him. Of course I wanted very
much that Ukraine is in priority for Trump, not Russia. And I hope that we are more important,
more important. Yes, we are not so big as Russia. But I think strategically Ukraine is more
important for the United States because we are really partners, allies, and we share common
values, and we are really from democratic worlds. Yes, and that's why I think that for us it's
necessary to feel it. And that's why of course it's better when president of the United States first
speak with president of Ukraine and then with Russians. For me it’s – you know, it's not for me –
it's not only for me. It's for our people. This is their signal. This is the attitude from the United
States to Ukraine. But, I mean, there's no doubt. I mean, there's no questions about this phone
call because we have dialogue the same day. And I count on President Trump, and I hope that
he will really support us. But if we speak about meetings, so this is not the same with phone
calls. Yes. So of course we need to speak and meet with the president of the United States, and
only after that with Russians.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Did he invite you to the White House? Did he invite you – he says he's planning to meet
President Putin in Saudi Arabia. Did he invite you there?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
No, he didn't invite me to Saudi Arabia. I --
    

p. 4

      KRISTEN WELKER:
Did he invite you to the White House?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
You know, he always says that, "I'm ready to see you." But, you know, our teams have to work
on the date. We also spoke about it. He gave me his phone number. He said, "This is my direct
number. You have to call me any day you want." And, yes, thank you so much.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you feel like you have President Trump's full support? Do you feel like he's valuing Ukraine
as much as you say he may be Russia?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
Well, I became more, more, more pragmatic from the very beginning of this war and less
sensitive to such things. And I believe and trust only in real steps. And I trust President Trump
because he's the president of the United States, because your people, your people voted for
him, and I respect their choice, and I will work the President Trump with trust, which I have to
the United States. But of course I want to have real meeting, productive, without just words, with
concrete steps, and to hear us, to hear President Trump, to make common plan, and to share it
with allies, then with Russians, and stop this war. I think we need it urgently. We have to do it
without basic things, where there are concrete steps.
KRISTEN WELKER:
So no plans right now to go to the White House?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
I don’t know. I don't know. Maybe they have. As I said – about journey to?
KRISTEN WELKER:
No plans for you to go to the White House right now that you're aware of?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
I don't have the date. I don't have the date, but we spoke about it, that we will have meeting and
our teams will work on it. So I think that now after vice president and after General Kellogg will
come to Ukraine, I think he will get some more information for President Trump. I think they
need this time to have this information, then to work with this information, and then to think, be
ready, and then we will meet. Something like this.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Is it true that you told President Trump during that phone call that Putin is only pretending to
want peace because he is afraid of Mr. Trump?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
    

p. 5

      Yes. Yes, I said that he is a liar. And he said, "I think my feeling is that he's ready for these
negotiations." And I said to him, "No, he's a liar. He doesn't want any peace." But I think he's
really a little bit scared about the President Trump. And I think the president has this chance,
and he's strong. And I think that really he can push Putin to peace negotiations. Yes, I think so. I
think he can, but don't trust him. Don't trust Putin. Don't trust just words about ceasefire. I said
because I have very practical things, practical meeting with Putin in 2019, and we made a
decision with all our signatures. Then we made a decision about ceasefire and exchange of
prisoners. Yes. And he – I don't know how to [SPEAKS UKRAINIAN]. He destroyed all these
decisions and et cetera. So we don't trust him.
KRISTEN WELKER:
If you don't think President Putin really wants peace, are you concerned he's going to drag out
this process?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
And he also – he needs pause. This is good and very bad at the same time. He needs pause
because he really now mobilized 35,000 people each month. But we wants to prepare very
trained, well-trained people. But he has so many losses, and they are not well-trained. They
don't have enough time. They are pushing them on the battlefield, and they are dying. Wounded
or dying. That's why he need pause. He needs time. Ceasefire without anything, without, you
know, actions on the battlefield and et cetera, to have a pause and prepare. Prepare for
invasion, I'm sure. The new ones. That's why when we speak with the President Trump and with
his team, vice president, I said that I don't trust. So that's great. God bless. If President Trump
will push him, he can. God bless, he will do it. But I need security guarantees. Words are not
enough. Words cost nothing with Putin, yes? That's why for me it's very important, strong
security guarantees. Otherwise, when he will come back so he can occupy us.
KRISTEN WELKER:
And we're going to talk about the security guarantees --
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
Okay.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let me ask you big picture, though. Do you think President Trump is negotiating in good faith?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
I hope so. I hope so. Yes, I count on it. I count on it very much.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Based on what you're saying about President Putin, do you think he's negotiating in good faith
once talks begin?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
    

p. 6

      Who?
KRISTEN WELKER:
Putin.
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
Putin? That he really –
KRISTEN WELKER:
Is he capable of negotiating in good faith? Is Putin capable of negotiating in good faith?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
No. No, and it's not about good faith. No, no, no, no. No. No. No, no. Yes, you just can't block
his motivation to put him in such strong circumstances when he can't begin the new invasion,
re-invasion. But he wants. You'll see. Everybody will see. He will try to begin something new. By
the way, I said it today. I'm not sure that only about Ukraine we are speaking. He is thinking not
only about Ukraine. For example, now we have – and we shared it with intelligence of our
partners – now we see how he's preparing to train 150,000 people mostly on the territory of
Belarus, to show it for the world that it is just training, that usually he is doing the same. Usually.
But it's not truth. From such point, he begin the occupation three years ago. Full-scale war he
began from some symbolic trainings and et cetera. But really, really --
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY [TRANSLATED]:
He conducted military training exercises, he said that these are exercises that are always
ongoing on Belarus territories, that they are a allied state with Belarus and that they do regular
business. But he started the invasion, and the missiles, and the first night flew from the Belarus,
and the invasion came from Belarus. We know for sure that he is preparing that from the
territory of Belarus this year. It can happen in summer, maybe in the beginning, maybe in the
end of summer. I do not know when he prepares it. But it will happen. And at that moment,
knowing that he did not succeed in occupying us, we do not know where he will go. There are
risks that this can be Poland and Lithuania because we believe – we believe that Putin will wage
war against NATO. That is why I told you that, "What is he waiting for?" For a weakening of
NATO by, for instance, policy of the United States of America, for example, that the United
States of America will think to take its military from Europe. Yes, Putin thinks of that. But I will
believe that the United States will not take its forces, its contingents from Europe because that
will severely weaken NATO and the European continent. Putin definitely counts on that. And the
fact that we receive information that he will think of the invasion against former Soviet republics.
And forgive me, but today these are NATO countries.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Just to be very clear, you are saying you have actual intelligence that President Putin is
planning to attack NATO countries?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
    

p. 7

      No. We have intelligence, we have documents that they are preparing trained mission of a big
number of soldiers on the, on the territory of Belarus. And we just sharing that there is a high
risk that he can do the same. Maybe not. God bless not. And maybe before it, President Trump
and the allies will stop him. Yes, but anyway, I think that we have to prepare, yes, to prevent it,
not to be, not to have such surprises that he will come back like it was three years ago with
invasion to Ukraine. That is my point. And that's not my point of view. That is our intelligence
understanding.
KRISTEN WELKER:
And there are obviously these reports that a drone attacked Chernobyl overnight, the nuclear
plant in Kyiv. What does that mean? What does that tell you about how complicated any peace
process may be?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
Oh it’s, for him, he is always increasing, increasing, you know? Before – he is doing some
symbolic-for-him things. So you have the Munich Security Conference, especially this day,
beginning of the conference. He's trying to show that for him it doesn't matter. “Doesn't matter
what you will decide about security, I can do this,” what he showed. He put the drone, yes, to the
sarcophagus of the fourth block of Chernobyl station. Yes, sarcophagus which was built by 40
countries. Forty countries, mostly American money, and then all of countries of Europe. Forty
countries built it during the years, and he just pushed the drone there especially to this
sarcophagus.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Are you --
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
You're think that such person wants peace?
KRISTEN WELKER:
Given what you're saying, are you willing to negotiate with Vladimir Putin face to face?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
Together, United States, Europe, Ukraine and Russia, yes, because without Russians, we can't
stop for today, we can't stop this war. We can't stop Putin without, without his decision, because
he is on our territory.
KRISTEN WELKER:
If you were –
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
It's a bit –
KRISTEN WELKER:
    

p. 8

      If you were sitting across from Vladimir Putin right now instead of me, what would you say to
him?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
I will speak -- no, it's not about emotions. It's about how to stop him. So for me, he is a killer, and
he will never change. And that's why this is the dialogue with a terrorist. This is dialogue with a
killer. I don't have such power, enough power to push him out. That's why I have to speak about
it. So our allies can give me such power to push him out, but our allies decided to make a deal
with Putin. But I – what can I say? I'm ready. Of course we don't want, you know, to lose our
people. And if it can be so in diplomacy to stop this war, so, of course, we are ready. Of course
we will be happy with a peace.
KRISTEN WELKER:
President Trump this week wouldn't commit to U.S. troops providing security to Ukraine, one of
your key requests, wouldn't commit to NATO membership and wouldn't commit to Ukraine
reclaiming the territory that Russia illegally took. Do you think that the Trump administration is
giving away bargaining chips before the peace process, the negotiations, have begun?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
You know, I don't know. Maybe it's a part of tactics of the administration. I don't know. It’s really,
you know, I'm looking at it. For me, I don't know what about they speak, but as I said, it doesn't
matter what they will decide about Ukraine. If it's without – without us, it's their dialogue. So how
can I influence on this dialogue? I can only accept any negotiation or not accept, because we
are --
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY [TRANSLATED]:
Yeah, we are the actor. We are the participant of this war, unfortunately. We, we would gladly be
the country who helps the other country that is at war. And the best way would be to not have
the war at all. We would want to be the country to prevent others even from starting the war. But
we are an actor in this war. We are a victim. Putin attacked us. So without us, the war cannot
end. And it is not possible to simply give Ukraine to Putin. That would mean simply to
acknowledge what he did, to give the signal to others, to other regions where Americans can
also feel that. Heaven forbid. I do not wish war to anybody. But that is a fact. Putin must not only
be stopped, but he must feel that this is a huge mistake, if we can use such word, "mistake," in
terms of the numbers of deaths. Sure.
KRISTEN WELKER:
What does a good deal look like for you for Ukraine?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
No, we will not have very good deal in such circumstances, and Putin will not have a very good
deal for him in such circumstances. Because he can't for today win us, and we can't win him.
And that's why it will not be a very good deal for both of us. But it can be more important thing:
Peace. Maybe not the best but peaceful people. That's what we really want. It's much more,
    

p. 9

      much more than any good deals. I think so. But we can't give all this, you know, good deals just
to Putin and play for, you know, just play with how he wants, yes. And that's why for me it's very
important that Trump, that President Trump will be on our side. And I think what is very
important when Putin knows it, this is important, not just play. This is very important to say to
him, "Yes, we have to speak with you. Yes, we have to make deal with you because you're an
enemy. You're strong. That's why we have to speak with you to stop the war. But you have to
know that you're an enemy of just human beings, just of people. And you have to know that
we're against your steps, against your occupation, against your view of life.” And I think it's very
important. It can't be the secret from the people and et cetera. People have to understand. Their
leaders have to understand that nobody can kill, nobody can occupy, nobody can begin any
format of wars, of conflicts and et cetera.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let me ask you. President Trump said, he does not think Ukrainian membership in NATO is,
quote, "practical." In your view, is NATO membership something that should be determined as a
part of this deal?
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY:
Well, I want to be very clear with NATO for us and for everybody. It's the cheapest security
guarantees, the cheapest for us, the cheapest for Europe, the cheapest for United States and
the cheapest really for Russia. And if we are not in NATO, it means that we will build NATO in
Ukraine. Otherwise, we will not recognize the security guarantees. If opposite you 100.3 or
100.5 million army of Russians, what number of soldiers you have to have? What number of
troops you have to have just to survive and to defend the same? Now we have 110 strong
brigades. Russia has twice more, 220 strong brigades. Europe has 82. So if Putin will break us,
he will occupy Europe. He can destroy all the army of Europe if they are without United States.
That's why I said this is the cheapest for United States and for Europe. Why? Because if we
don’t, if I'm not in NATO and if everybody will recognize that we need more than 1 million people
of army, so we will need money for all these people. We – if we can't use, for example, fleet of
NATO or jets from NATO, we will need hundreds of jets. So it's very, very expensive, even
without the war just to have it, not to spend, just to have it. That's it. Then NATO is very cheap I
said for Russia. Otherwise, if we are not in NATO, NATO stopping also us, because I mean, just
people who lost their children. And this is painful, and they want accountability. And it’s really –
and if they will not get it, they will find it, they will search it. And I can't recognize it and can't like
a father understand. If Putin took your child and killed by missile your child, and if those people
who killed, and Putin, that if they're not in the prisons and if they even don't say sorry to all the
world, it's not enough. But if they're just feeling that they are winners, what will father will do?
They can take the weapon and continue his – not normal way. But he will continue his life
because he hate Russians. NATO also stopping everybody because this is security, you know,
allies. And this is also important and for Europe that they are secure. Because there is a big
army in NATO. Ukrainian army together with Europe is comparable with Russia. That's what I
said. This is the cheapest way.