Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused US President Donald Trump of trying to force Ukraine to surrender to Russia. He made the accusation in an interview published on Sunday, as the strain between the two leaders reached a new level amid a deepening dispute.
‘I believe some steps have been taken to get Ukraine to agree to surrender,’ Zelensky told Bloomberg News.
He pointed to several steps taken by the Trump administration in recent days which, in his view, could strengthen Russia’s ability to wage war while weakening Ukraine’s ability to keep fighting.
Zelensky said he did not want to believe that Washington was trying to end the war quickly at the expense of Ukraine’s interests. ‘But that is how the situation looks,’ he said.
Over the past week the two leaders have traded words in unusually harsh terms. Zelensky said Trump has an innate liking for dictators, pointing to his attitude towards Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump, for his part, urged Ukrainians to vote Zelensky out of power.
On NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, Zelensky indicated that he would stand if a presidential election were held during the war. It was the first time he has publicly signalled this after months of avoiding the question.
But he played down the prospect of an election during the war. Russia has repeatedly refused to agree to a ceasefire that would allow Ukrainians to vote, and a large number of Ukrainians oppose holding an election while the war goes on.
The war of words between Trump and Zelensky began on 9 October, when Trump announced that the United States would buy diesel from Russia to bring down fuel prices. He said the aim was to lower fuel prices before the US midterm elections. But the deal could bring billions of dollars into the Russian economy.
Trump then demanded that Ukraine stop attacking Russian oil refineries, one of its main means of putting pressure on Russia in the war. He argued that if Ukraine stopped the attacks, Russian oil could return to world markets.
In a social media post on Sunday night, Trump openly backed Russia, the aggressor in the conflict. Explaining why concessions were being offered to encourage the Kremlin into peace talks, he criticised Zelensky, writing that Zelensky ‘does not want to end this war, and probably never did’.
On Monday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could meet in Shenzhen, China, next month. His remarks deepened concern in Ukraine, which fears that Trump is encouraging Putin to keep fighting and that the two leaders could in the end impose a settlement on Ukraine against its interests.
Ukraine accuses Washington of restricting the Ukrainian army’s access to a secure US satellite internet network that is vital for frontline operations. Kyiv also says there have been gaps in US intelligence sharing, which gives advance warning of Russian ballistic missile strikes.
Ukrainian officials said they received no advance warning from the United States before two rounds of Russian missile strikes last week. Zelensky said the same happened on Sunday night.
In a social media post he wrote that there had been ‘no advance warning from our partners’ before missiles struck the capital, Kyiv.
US officials have denied stopping intelligence sharing with Ukraine on ballistic missiles. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the missed warnings last week were caused by ‘a software problem with their early warning system’. He could not say anything about Sunday night.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat confirmed that no advance warning came before the first wave of missiles hit Kyiv at about 11pm local time on Sunday. A warning did come before the second wave at about 3am on Monday.
Ukraine says Russia fired 16 ballistic missiles and about 270 drones at Kyiv and the surrounding region. The air force said it shot down more than 240 drones but did not say how many missiles were intercepted. Kyiv has adopted a new policy of not publishing its interception rate for ballistic missiles, largely because of a shortage of interceptors.
Ukraine’s most reliable defence against Russian ballistic missiles is the US-made Patriot system. But growing demand for interceptors around the world, especially in the Middle East, is depleting Ukraine’s stocks. Zelensky told Bloomberg that Washington is delaying deliveries of Patriot interceptors.
The shortage shows in the sound of attacks on Kyiv. With enough interceptors, the roar of air defences firing back could be heard as Russian missiles came in. Now, most of the time, what is heard is the blast of missiles hitting their targets, with nothing to stop them.
Sunday night was the same. During the first wave, explosions echoed across central Kyiv. When the attack ended, the noise stopped and an unnatural silence fell.
In one area of central Kyiv, seconds after the strike, music drifted from an apartment, breaking the silence of the night: ‘How can I not love you, my Kyiv’.
The lyrical song about the Ukrainian capital, released in 1962, has become a symbol of the resilience of Kyiv’s people under attack.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report