CNN
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview at Greece's Delphi Economic Forum that he would listen to former US President Donald Trump's idea of ending the war in Ukraine “with pleasure,” but was cautious on the issue. I stepped into it.
The embattled Ukrainian leader's comments come as the Republican presidential candidate reportedly intends to put pressure on Ukraine if re-elected and, in the process, reach a peace deal with Russia that would involve the ceding of territory in Kiev. This was in response to reports.
“First and foremost, those signals were on certain media platforms. We have not heard anything like that directly from President Trump,” Zelenskiy told CNN senior correspondent Fred Preitgen via video link from Ukraine. Told. “We didn't have a chance to discuss his ideas in detail or talk about his ideas on how to end the war.”
Zelenskiy added: “If there is such an opportunity, I would be happy to listen to them, so we can discuss this topic.”
Ahead of Wednesday's Delphi remarks, Zelenskiy earlier told German newspaper Bild that he had invited Trump to Ukraine “to see everything with my own eyes and draw my own conclusions.” . He said President Trump had privately communicated his intention to accept an invitation to visit Ukraine.
Trump's campaign pushed back Wednesday, calling Zelenskiy's comments “incorrect.”
A Trump campaign official told CNN: “We have not heard from Mr. Zelenskiy. President Trump has said it would not be appropriate for him to go to Ukraine right now because he is not commander in chief.”
Delphi Economic Forum
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was photographed speaking from Ukraine during an interview with CNN's Fred Preitgen while attending the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece.
The Ukrainian leader also used the economic forum to respond when asked by Preitgen about the long wait times for production and mobilization of Western weapons while the Ukrainian military is “currently being pushed back.” He called on allies to be “realists” rather than “pessimists.”
Zelenskiy said the situation in eastern Ukraine was “currently stable.”
“You can see how our GDP is rising because the maritime corridor is working. I don’t see the situation the same way you do,” he continued. “We are at war and the enemy is serious, but let's be realists, not pessimists.”
“If we get weapons and concrete measures from Putin's partners, we will break Putin's backbone,” he added.
In his speech at the forum, President Zelenskiy also pointed to Russia's new use of aerial bombs as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's major “bets” to change the course of the war.
“Now Russia is starting to bomb Kharkov. These are special guided bombs that destroy everything within a few hundred meters,” Zelenskyy explained, calling this “Putin's last effective attack in this war.” “It's a big bet.”
He said Putin's “bet is on terrorism” and that the Russian leader “thinks he can turn the situation in his favor with bombs that destroy all buildings.”
“He thinks that these bombs are enough and that their trajectory will eventually destroy our energy and put Ukraine in a blackout.”
President Zelenskiy also stressed that Ukraine complies with the conditions imposed by Western countries regarding the supply of weapons to Kiev.
Asked about restrictions imposed by Western countries, including a ban on the use of long-range weapons against targets inside Russia, Zelenskiy said none of the weapons used on Russian territory were supplied by the West. .
“It is no secret that a condition for the use of Western weapons was that they could not attack Russian targets inside Russian territory,” he said.
Press Office of the President of Ukraine/Handouts/Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday inspected a new fortress for Ukrainian military personnel near the Russian border in the Kharkiv region.
“I would like to emphasize that no Western weapons were used in such attacks. We did not even retaliate with attacks with such weapons inside Russian territory. That is true.
“Everything that Ukraine will use after the Russian invasion is exclusively produced by Ukraine and will only be used against military or energy targets.
“Ukraine does not even use its own weapons against civilians.”
Russia launched a missile attack on the Odesa region of southern Ukraine on Wednesday, attacking transport and logistics infrastructure, the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine announced in a cable. “The enemy continues to carry out systematic terrorist acts in the Odesa region,” the Defense Forces said.
There is no information on casualties at this time, and the extent of the damage has not yet been determined.
Ukraine's state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia announced in a Telegram post that two railway employees were injured and hospitalized in the attack on Odesa on Wednesday morning.
The latest attack on Odesa follows a wave of drone attacks in southern Ukraine overnight, in which 12 drones were destroyed in the Mykolaiv region. The Defense Forces said on Telegram that Russian troops had targeted an energy facility and started a fire, which had now been extinguished.
Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the military administration of the Kherson region, said in a Telegram post that the attack on infrastructure in southern Ukraine caused a power outage in the Kherson region. According to Ukraine's state energy company Ukrenergo, restoration work is underway to restore power to the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
