Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky on Tuesday called for details of President Trump's proposal on a ceasefire with Russia to save energy and infrastructure targets, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin is putting pressure on Ukraine on ground operations.
Zelensky made his remarks at a press conference held shortly after Trump called with Putin to discuss the conditions for a potential ceasefire. Putin committed to the US pitching of the ceasefire that Ukraine accepted last week, which would halt the ground and attack.
“We support all the steps aimed at the end of the war. We support them. But to support them, we need to understand exactly what we support,” Zelensky said in Ukraine's remarks, shared by Reuters.
“When President Trump has time, he is a busy person and when he has time, we can call me anytime, he has my phone number.
The White House did not reply to Hill's request for comment on whether Trump has plans to call Zelensky.
The Ukrainian leader said the prisoner exchange set on Wednesday would show the will and desire to end the war on Russia's part. However, he said he was skeptical of Kiev's trust in the Russians and that he had no trust in Putin to have a ceasefire.
“So I'm saying we need to understand how it works technically so that it doesn't just depend on their desires. That's all,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky said Putin intended to carry out offensive operations in major regions of Ukrainian territory. This includes the existing presence of Ukraine in Zaporizhia, a location of a key nuclear power plant in the northeast of the country on the border with Russia, and the areas of Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast of the country.
“Putin wants to implement some offensive operations,” Zelensky said. “He tries to do that. What? To put maximum pressure on Ukraine. When will that happen? Trust me, he will try to do it in the nearest few months.”
Zelensky also spoke about the demands Putin raised in his call with Trump. Zelensky also rejected Putin's appeal to the United States to end Ukrainian military aid.
Trump temporarily suspended US military aid and intelligence news sharing, but recovered it when Zelensky agreed to a 30-day ceasefire.
“He saw the US could take action. [to stop military aid and intelligence sharing] And that's why he raises topics that he thinks might work in his favor. It happened before, so why not do it again? But once again, that means weakening the Ukrainian army,” Zelensky said.
“I think military aid will continue. We have assistance from both our US and European colleagues. We are in constant contact with them. We are confident that there will be no betrayal from the partners and the flow of military aid will continue.”
