Volodymyr Zelensky praises King Charles for getting Trump back on side | World | News
Volodymyr Zelensky said King Charles helped establish relations with Donald Trump and described the British monarch as “very supportive” of Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky heaped praise on the king in an interview on Sunday, when Russia’s attack on the country’s energy grid caused the lights to go dark twice.
He said the monarch played a key role behind the scenes in encouraging Trump to support Ukraine more enthusiastically after their lively verbal spat in the Oval Office in February. Trump had a one-on-one meeting with the king during his official visit to England in September.
The Ukrainian president told The Guardian: “I don’t know all the details, but I understand that His Majesty has sent some important signals to President Trump.”
He said Trump respected the king and saw him as “very important,” which he said was a real compliment paid to “a lot of people.” Zelensky said, “His Majesty is very sensitive to our people. Maybe sensitive is not the right word. He is very supportive.”
The Ukrainian leader said he is not afraid of Trump and respects Ukraine’s allies. “I understand that everyone is afraid of Trump. Yes, everyone in the world. And that’s true. And this is the United States of America and they are the leaders,” he told The Guardian.
He added: “I think he’s a man elected by the people. We should respect the choice of the American people. I’m a man elected by the people, too. And I think that’s the way it should be. We’re not a threat to the United States. We’re not America’s enemies,” he added. “We’re friends, so why should we be afraid?”
According to Mr. Zelensky, the current situation should not be seen as Europe being at war with Russia, but as “Russia being at war with Ukraine and, hypothetically, with many countries in Europe.” He argued that European governments had been very cautious after the recent drone attacks and were “scared of this word ‘escalation'”, seeing a stronger response as risking conflict with Russia.
He added that what European leaders saw as “intellectual reactions” based on law and democratic values were seen very differently in the Kremlin.
“Russia does not appreciate weakness and evaluates any intellectual reaction, and that is how Europe reacts, non-coercive intellectual reactions, such as sanctions, are not about the rule of law. For Russia, it is about weakness,” he said.
The President claimed that he would welcome the intervention of British troops before a ceasefire was reached, rather than after it was reached. Asked whether he had made such a request to the British government, Mr. Zelensky said he had asked for many types of assistance but that such requests had to be handled diplomatically. He said Allied leaders had talked about the possibility of sending troops only after a ceasefire.
