Zelenskyy desires U.S. to hit Russia with ‘most’ sanctions if it refuses a ceasefire

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated he hopes the US will apply “maximum additional sanctions” on Russia if it refuses to just accept a 30-day ceasefire and described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “bravado” response as a stalling tactic.

“The Russians say, for example, ‘We support a ceasefire, but …’ And then after the ‘but,’ they start coming with various details to delay the process,” Zelenskyy stated Friday in a gathering with Ukrainian and worldwide information media, together with NPR.

Zelenskyy’s feedback capped per week of intense dialogue about how you can cease Russia’s struggle on Ukraine. The Trump administration has held separate conferences with Ukrainian and Russian officers this week. On Tuesday, Ukraine agreed to enact a 30-day ceasefire, however to date Russia has wished to set additional situations earlier than reaching a short-term truce.

If Russia agrees to a short-term ceasefire, Zelenskyy stated it could be doable to watch violations utilizing satellite tv for pc knowledge, joint intelligence with Ukraine’s allies and reconnaissance drones. “Air defense protections must be 100%,” he stated, if there is a threat of a renewed Russian invasion.

After a ceasefire, Zelenskyy stated probably the most troublesome problem is coping with Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. Zelenskyy stated this got here up in talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday, between Ukraine’s workforce and the Trump administration representatives, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz.

“Our partners know our red lines, that we do not recognize the occupied territories as territories of Russia, and we will never recognize them,” Zelenskyy stated.

Talking within the Oval Workplace on Thursday, Trump introduced up “a very big power plant” when speaking about doable territorial concessions, doubtless a reference to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant within the Ukrainian metropolis of Enerhodar. This nuclear energy plant, which isn’t producing electrical energy proper now, is the biggest in Europe and has been beneath Russian occupation since 2022.

“You can’t just say, here is the plant and the city is separate,” he stated.

Zelenskyy additionally spoke about Kursk, the area in western Russia that Ukraine occupied final summer season in a shock incursion that embarrassed the Kremlin. Since November, with the assistance of North Korean troops, Russia has pushed the Ukrainians out of most of space.

Putin claimed on Thursday that his troops had cornered Ukrainian troopers in Kursk. Trump appeared to echo that in a social media publish, saying “THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY” and calling on Putin to spare their lives. Talking earlier than Russia’s Safety Council on Friday, Putin stated if the Ukrainian forces “lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and decent treatment.”

On Friday, Ukraine’s army denied that its troops have been encircled and stated Russia had claimed this “for political purposes and to put pressure on Ukraine and its partners.”

Zelenskyy acknowledged that the state of affairs for Ukrainian troops in Kursk “is obviously very difficult” however that they’d completed their predominant goal: diverting Russian troops from the beleaguered jap metropolis of Pokrovsk, which has been beneath assault for months.

NPR Producer Hanna Palamarenko contributed from Kyiv.