{"id":43269,"date":"2025-06-08T16:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T21:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=43269"},"modified":"2025-06-09T04:39:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T09:39:26","slug":"zelensky-says-he-understands-putin-much-better-than-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=43269","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky says he understands Putin \u2018much better\u2019 than Trump\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2002<\/u><\/a>said Ukrainian officials understand Russian leader Vladimir Putin\u2002<\/u><\/a>\u201cmuch better\u201d than President Trump, who has repeatedly said Putin wants peace, even as he rejects U.S. proposals for a ceasefire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith all due respect to President Trump, I think it\u2019s just his personal opinion,\u201d Zelensky told Martha Raddatz\u2002<\/u><\/a>on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d in an interview that aired Sunday morning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrust me, we understand the Russians much better, the mentality of the Russians, than the Americans understand the Russians. I know for sure Putin doesn\u2019t want to stop the war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelensky also took issue with Trump\u2019s comments in the Oval Office this week comparing Ukraine and Russia to children fighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are not playing in the park with the Russians like two boys, two kids. Putin is not a kid,\u201d Zelensky said. \u201cSo we can\u2019t compare, and we cannot say, \u2018OK, let them fight for a while.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s not about President Trump,\u201d he added. \u201cAnyone living thousands of miles away can\u2019t fully understand the pain, even parents who live in Ukraine cannot feel the pain of those who lost their children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine stunned Russia last weekend with drone attacks on Russian air bases, which it said destroyed dozens of bombers. The drones were smuggled into Russia on 18-wheeler trucks, which were parked near military bases and remotely opened ahead of the attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump spoke with Putin on Wednesday, telling reporters that Russia planned to retaliate for the drone strikes. Russia killed five people<\/u><\/a> in Ukraine in drone attacks the next day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raddatz asked Zelensky if he believed Trump thinks Russia is winning the war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s publicly said about it, and I know that he shared this information with some people around him, and I think the separation \u2014 and I said it a lot of times, it\u2019s not true. It\u2019s not a victory when you spent, really spent 1 million people,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelensky added that Trump \u201cmust\u201d impose stronger sanctions on Russia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump this week said he had yet to look at Sen. Lindsey Graham\u2019s\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-S.C.) Russia sanctions bill, which is co-sponsored by more than 80 senators, but the president said senators would not move without his blessing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senators in both parties are itching for the green light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-S.D.) told reporters that the bill could hit the floor during the current four-week work period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The White House is] still hopeful they\u2019ll be able to strike some sort of a deal, but \u2026 there\u2019s a high level of interest here in the Senate on both sides of the aisle in moving on it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think a genuine interest in doing something to make clear to Russia that they need to come to the table \u2026 I think that would have a big impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

thehill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2002said Ukrainian officials understand Russian leader Vladimir Putin\u2002\u201cmuch better\u201d than President Trump, who has repeatedly said Putin wants peace, even as he rejects U.S. proposals for a ceasefire.  \u201cWith all due respect to President Trump, I think it\u2019s just his personal opinion,\u201d Zelensky told Martha Raddatz\u2002on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d in an interview that aired Sunday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":43270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4451,1230,1826],"class_list":["post-43269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-putin","tag-trump","tag-zelensky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43271,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43269\/revisions\/43271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}