“NONE OF US TRUST THE RUSSIANS”
The latest dramatic diplomatic swing came less than two weeks after Trump kicked Zelenskyy out of the White House complaining about the Ukrainian leader’s lack of gratitude for US assistance.
Trump halted military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv, but that resumed after the truce proposal was agreed on Tuesday.
Trump had previously said he was ready to welcome Zelenskyy back to the White House and speculated he could speak with Putin this week.
In Kyiv, Zelenskyy said the US would pile pressure on Moscow if it did not accept a ceasefire.
“I understand that we can count on strong steps. I don’t know the details yet but we are talking about sanctions and strengthening Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told reporters.
“Everything depends on whether Russia wants a ceasefire and silence, or it wants to continue killing people,” the Ukrainian leader added.
He said Ukrainians had no confidence that fighting would stop. “I have emphasised this many times, none of us trust the Russians.”
Ukraine is increasingly suffering on the battlefield, losing ground in the east and south of the country, where officials said eight people were killed on Wednesday.
Russia has also reclaimed territory in its western Kursk region, pushing back Ukrainian troops who staged a shock offensive last August.
Putin was shown on Russian television visiting troops in Kursk on Wednesday.
“I am counting on the fact that all the combat tasks facing our units will be fulfilled, and the territory of the Kursk region will soon be completely liberated from the enemy,” Putin said.
Russian chief of staff General Valery Gerasimov said that 430 Ukrainian troops had been captured and Putin called them “terrorists”.
Ukraine military commander-in-chief General Oleksandr Syrsky indicated that some forces in Kursk were pulling back to “more favorable positions.”
Russia downed 77 Ukrainian drones overnight, its defence ministry said on Thursday, two days after Kyiv carried out its largest direct strike on Moscow during the three-year war.
Multiple Ukrainian cities were also under attack on Thursday morning, with a 42-year-old woman killed in Kherson, according to regional military administration head Roman Mrochko.
Authorities in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk also reported coming under attack.
