On a train from Sumy, Ukraine to Kiev (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Russia may need Ukraine if it doesn’t fight a protracted battle in key eastern cities. He warned that it could start building international support for the deal. Win unacceptable compromises. He also invited the leaders of China, a longtime ally of Russia, to visit.
If Bakhmut fell into the hands of the Russian military, its president Vladimir Putin would “sell the victory to the West, to its society, to China, to Iran,” Zelensky said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.
“If he feels blood, if he smells like we’re weak, he’ll push, push, push,” Zelensky said in English.
Zelensky also recognizes that much of his country’s success is due to a wave of international military support, particularly from the United States and Western Europe. But some in the United States, including former Republican President Donald Trump, are wondering whether Washington should continue to provide billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, likely Trump’s Republican nominee, also hinted that defending Ukraine in a “territorial dispute” with Russia is not a major US national security priority. . He later retracted that statement after facing criticism from other corners of the Republican Party.
Zelensky didn’t name Trump or any other Republican politician, a figure he might have to grapple with if they win the 2024 election. However, he said he was concerned that the war could be affected by changes in political power in Washington.
“The U.S. really understands that if they stop helping us, we can’t win,” he said in an interview. I sat on my narrow bed and sipped my tea.
He traveled with a small corps of advisors and a large group of heavily armed guards in combat uniforms. His objectives included celebrating his first anniversary from the liberation of the city in the Sumy region and visiting the troops stationed on the front lines near Zaporizhia. Each visit was kept secret until after his departure.
Zelensky recently made a similar visit near Bakhmut, where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought fierce and bloody battles for months. While some Western military analysts have suggested that the city is of no great strategic importance, Zelensky believes that any loss at this stage of the war would have helped the hard-won Ukraine. warned that momentum could be undermined.
He predicted that the pressure of defeat at Bahmut would soon come from both the international community and his own country. “Our society will force me to compromise with them.”
Selenskyj says he has never felt this pressure before. The international community has rallied around Ukraine following Russia’s aggression on February 24, 2022. In recent months, a parade of world leaders has visited Zelensky, Ukraine. Most of them arrived on trains similar to those used by the president to travel around the country.
In an AP interview, Zelensky invited a prominent strategic leader who did not go to Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping. “We are ready to meet him here,” he said. “I would like to speak to him. I had contact with him before the full-blown war.
