"My feeling is that Putin needs Trump," the Ukrainian president said in an interview with Axios.
Zelenskyy sees a window for diplomacy in the period just before winter. Russian President Vladimir Putin is reluctant to clash with Donald Trump ahead of the US midterm elections - and may well want to “give” Trump a diplomatic victory, he predicts.
He (Putin) doesn't want to upset (Trump).
Zelenskyy met with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Kyiv over the weekend, the day after the two Trump envoys met with Putin in Moscow. The message from the Americans was that “the Russians are ready to negotiate,” according to Zelenskyy.
However, he emphasizes that he is skeptical - and that the road to a solution is long.
We have different interests, Russia and us.
