Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly rejected President Trump’s suggestion that Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about peace, drawing a sharp contrast between Trump’s optimism and Kyiv’s hard-earned skepticism.
“I don’t see it because, first of all, I don’t hear it publicly,” Zelensky said during a Fox News interview with Bret Baier previewed on “Fox & Friends First.” “He doesn’t speak about peace. He says that he can go further. It’s not the signals of peace.”
Zelensky’s remarks come just days after his highly watched meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, where both men reviewed a U.S.-brokered 20-point peace plan aimed at ending the nearly four-year-long war between Russia and Ukraine. Prior to that meeting, Trump held a two-hour phone call with Putin, prompting him to say he believed Moscow was open to peace.
“I do,” Trump replied when asked if he thought Putin was serious about ending the war. “Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed,” he later added during a press conference alongside Zelensky — a comment that drew a visible reaction from the Ukrainian leader, who offered only a short, uncomfortable laugh.
Putin, however, has issued repeated threats to continue military operations until all of the Donbas region is under Kremlin control. Earlier this month, the Russian president made clear his preference for military conquest, stating, “If Ukraine does not want to resolve everything peacefully, Russia will resolve all its objectives by military means.”
Despite those remarks, Trump has continued to push for a negotiated settlement, arguing that a deal — even one involving territory — may be the only path to peace.
Zelensky has remained firm on that issue. During the Mar-a-Lago press conference, he reiterated that he does not have the legal authority to give away land, particularly the Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine.
“It’s their land,” Zelensky said, referring to the people of Ukraine. “The land, not of one person, it’s the land of our nation for a lot of generations.”
He noted that any territorial concessions would have to be approved either by Ukraine’s parliament or through a national referendum — both of which are politically fraught and uncertain.
Trump, citing recent polling, claimed that more than 85% of Ukrainians want peace. Zelensky acknowledged that while that number may be accurate, it doesn’t translate into support for territorial giveaways.
“Today President Trump said, I saw the polls that 85%, maybe 87 he said, want peace,” Zelensky told Baier. “At the same time, 85% are against withdrawing from east, you know, from the Donbas.”
“That’s been the issue all along,” he added. “Everybody wants peace. But the people will not accept surrendering the Donbas. And a referendum will not be positive.”
As the U.S.-led peace initiative pushes forward, the gap between Trump’s dealmaking instincts and Zelensky’s domestic realities appears to be one of the final, unresolved hurdles — with Putin’s intentions looming large in the background.
The post Zelensky Splits With Trump, Rejects Putin’s Peace Posturing: ‘I Don’t See It’ appeared first on Real News Now.
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