The journalist asked the president if, in his opinion, Trump sanctions against the Russian Federation would introduce, in relation to which he had not yet given signs of readiness.
“And he is the leader of the United States of America, he must do this. I hope we really believe that the USA is the leaders of the civilized world. […]”, – said Zelensky.
The President also commented on Trump's statement that he could impose sanctions against Ukraine to force her to negotiate peace.
“You know, there was already a lot of things against Ukraine from the Russians. Here I definitely do not want anything from the United States. We support the proposals coming from the United States: about the ceasefire, about the end of the war, about any formats that can bring us closer [к этому]about meetings in any formats – at the technical level, at the level of leaders, anywhere. We do it. Here you do not need to look for a balance between us and the Russians. Russians do not want this, ”he emphasized.
According to Zelensky, sometimes there is no alternative, because only the Russians do not want to end the war.
“It doesn't matter here who wants to impose sanctions on the Russians – they will not work. Here America should impose sanctions,” the president said.
Context
Sanctions against Russia are introduced in response to its attack on Ukraine since 2014. After a full -scale invasion of Russian troops on February 24, 2022, restrictions were significantly expanded.
The American Senator from the Republican Party Lindsay Graham introduced a bill to tighten sanctions against the Russian Federation in the Senate on April 1, 2025. On the air of Fox News, announcing it, Graham said it should be hellish sanctions.
On May 27, Graham and his colleague-the Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, are both close allies of Trump-said that now is the time to increase the pressure in Putin.
On May 29, Reuters wrote that some Trump advisers believe that the bill may be useful, since it will allow secondary sanctions. At the same time, Trump, in fact, can tell the illegitimate President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin that the decision on sanctions is outside of his control and maintain a communication line with him, an American official told the agency. If the bill is adopted in the Senate, in the House of Representatives they must prepare a similar two -party bill. But, as Reuters noted, the support of Ukraine among the Republicans in the House of Representatives is noticeably weaker than in the Senate.
On June 3, the White House spokeswoman Caroline Livitt said that Trump was holding sanctions against the Russian aggressor country as an instrument in her arsenal In case of necessity.
