His intention to resign from the Ukrainian Presidency if this marks the peace or integration of his country in NATO, was expressed on Sunday in a press conference in the wake of Donald Trump’s statements, who described him as a dictator.
Volodimir Zelenski said he wants to meet Donald Trump before a possible summit between US President and Vladimir Putin. “We need to meet and talk” on the mineral agreement with the United States, “Zelenski said. “I think this meeting must be fair, that is, (to take place) before Trump meets Putin.”
The Ukrainian president also said that Washington and Kiev are close to an agreement on minerals, which has become a point of disagreement with the United States whose support against Russia is important to Ukraine. “We make progress,” Zelenski said, noting that officials on both sides had come into contact on the issue of the deal earlier today. “I will not sign for something that will pay ten generations of Ukrainians,” the Ukrainian president said.
Zelenski also said he was not affected by the fact that his US counterpart recently called him a “dictator”. “I will certainly not describe the words that Trump used as a compliment. One would feel an insult with the word “dictator” if he was a dictator, “he said. “I am an elected president,” he added, assuring that he would not want to stay “in power for decades.”
He said that Donald Trump would like to understand his position and cut security guarantees to help Kiev be protected from a new Russian attack after a possible agreement on the end of hostilities. “I would love a mutual understanding on behalf of Trump,” he said. “Trump’s security guarantees are necessary,” he added, as the US president adopted some parts of the Kremlin rhetoric, with the backdrop of Russian -American talks specifically for the War in Ukraine and from which Kiev has been ruled out.
At the same time, Zelenski said he hoped that his meeting Monday with leaders of allied countries, mainly European, would be a “turning point”, as Kiev and his partners are seeking to mobilize against the enemy rhetoric of the US president, to negotiate an agreement with Russia. “We have an important meeting, tomorrow, a summit. It may be a turning point, he said, citing a meeting of 13 foreign officials in Kiev and 24 others via teleconference, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the invasion.
