Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took aim at the Trump administration on Saturday after accusing it of pressing Kyiv for concessions in its ongoing efforts to end the war, while sparing Russia from comparable demands, NBC News reported.
“The Americans often return to the topic of concessions,” Zelenskyy said, speaking Saturday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, according to NBC News. “Too often those concessions are discussed in the context only of Ukraine, not Russia.”
Having been waged since 2014 and escalated in 2022 with Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Russo-Ukrainian War has led to tens of thousands of deaths and as many as 1.5 million casualties. President Donald Trump has long sought to negotiate an end to the war, having previously pledged to do so in “one day.”
Trump has failed, however, to help bring an end to the war, and as his persistence to end the war grows, so too have his demands of Ukraine, including demands that they make significant territorial concessions.
Zelenskyy has resisted the Trump administration’s calls for sweeping territorial concessions, and on Saturday, expressed fears that future negotiations could revive those same demands.
“We truly hope that the trilateral meetings next week will be serious, substantive, [and] helpful for all of us,” Zelenskyy said. “But honestly, sometimes it feels like the sides are talking about completing different things.”
Zelenskyy and Trump have long butted heads over the war in Ukraine, starting with the
explosive Oval Office meeting last year in which Trump scolded Zelensky for
not respecting the United States. Trump has also reportedly had other heated exchanges with Zelenskyy, including a vulgar “
shouting match” in which Trump demanded Zelenskyy cede territory to Russia or face destruction.
