Zelenskyy says Ukraine has ‘low chance’ of survival without US backing

AL JAZEERA | Published February 15, 2025

Ukraine’s president is concerned Washington may no longer be a strategic partner to Kyiv after President Trump’s call to Russia’s leader Putin.

Ukraine has little chance of surviving Russia’s assault without United States support, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, as US President Donald Trump announced negotiations to end the war will begin after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Probably it will be very, very, very difficult. And of course, in all the difficult situations you have a chance. But we will have low chance – low chance to survive without support of the United States,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with NBC News.

“I don’t want to think that we will not be strategic partners,” Zelenskyy added, according to an excerpt from the interview released ahead of its scheduled broadcast on Sunday.

The Ukrainian president also argued Putin is not interested in ending the war but only in a temporary ceasefire that would lead to the lifting of sanctions, giving Russia’s military an opportunity to regroup.

He also expressed concern at the possibility of Ukraine being militarily weakened without US military support and more vulnerable to Russian attacks.

INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN UKRAINE-1739356678

‘We want peace very much’

Trump stunned allies and upended the status quo of US support for Ukraine on Wednesday when he announced he discussed the war in separate calls with Putin and Zelenskyy.

In a shift in US foreign policy, Trump announced he would likely soon meet Putin to start truce talks.

Trump later said he did not think it was practical for Kyiv to join NATO and it’s unlikely Ukraine would get back all of its land. Ukraine demands Russia withdraw from captured territory and says it must receive NATO membership or equivalent security guarantees to prevent Moscow from attacking again.

Zelenskyy met Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference on Friday as he scrambled to ensure Ukraine is not sidelined in Washington’s push to wrap up the three-year war that’s killed an estimated one million people on both sides.

 

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SOURCE: www.aljazeera.com

RELATED: Ukraine would have ‘low chance to survive’ without US support, Zelenskyy says


Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, during a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 14, 2025.
VOICE OF AMERICA | Published February 15, 2025

Ukraine would have a “very, very difficult” time surviving without U.S. military support to fend off Russia’s invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a interview broadcast the night before he is scheduled to address the Munich Security Conference.

“Probably it will be very, very, very difficult. And of course, you know in all the difficult situations, you have a chance,” he told NBC News. “But we will have low chance — low chance to survive without support of the United States.”

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine has increased its war production but not enough to make up for what it would lose if it did not have U.S. backing.

Zelenskyy on Feb. 14 took part in a day of meetings and news briefings at the Munich Security Conference as efforts to seek a resolution to the war ramp up. The Ukrainian president is scheduled to deliver a speech on diplomacy and prospects for Ukraine’s future at the conference on Feb. 15.

He will take the spotlight after meeting with top U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, who stressed the need for a “durable, lasting peace” in Ukraine in his speech to the conference on Feb. 14. Zelenskyy told Vance that Ukraine wants “security guarantees” from Washington before any negotiations with Russia on ending almost three years of war.

Zelenskyy said in the interview that he doesn’t want to think about Ukraine not being a strategic partner of the United States because it would damage Ukrainian morale, but added, “We have to think about it.”

The United States has sent mixed signals on its strategy, sparking worry in Kyiv that Ukraine could be forced into a bad deal that leaves Putin emboldened.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO defense ministers earlier this week that it’s “unrealistic” to expect Ukraine’s borders to return to their pre-2014 positions and said NATO membership is not seen by the White House as part of the solution to the conflict.

Ukraine demands Russia withdraw from captured territory and says it must receive NATO membership or equivalent security guarantees to prevent Moscow from attacking again.

Speaking in Warsaw on Feb. 14, he again warned that America’s European NATO partners would have to do far more for their own defense and to secure a future Ukraine peace.

Hegseth also argued that you “don’t have to trust” President Vladimir Putin to negotiate with Russia.

Two days earlier U.S. President Donald Trump said he had a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call with Putin and said they agreed that their teams should begin negotiations immediately.

Zelenskyy responded by saying he wouldn’t accept any deals made without Ukraine’s involvement.

Asked in the interview if he believed that Ukraine would be vulnerable in another few years if a cease-fire were reached, Zelenskyy said: “Yes, I think this can be.”

He said Putin wanted to come to the negotiating table not to end the war but to get a cease-fire deal to lift some sanctions on Russia and allow Moscow’s military to regroup.

“This is really what he wants. He wants pause, prepare, train, take off some sanctions, because of ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said.

Vance, who is representing Trump at the high-profile gathering of world leaders and foreign policy experts, said the United States wants “the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road.”

There have been a number of “good conversations” with Ukraine, and more would follow “in the days, weeks and months to come,” Vance said.

Zelenskyy agreed, calling the meeting with Vance “a good conversation” and said Kyiv wants to work toward ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, but added that “we need real security guarantees.”

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SOURCE: www.voanews.com