Zelenskyy urges Trump to stay on Ukraine's side as war against Russia drags into 5th year

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Courtesy: Reuters photo)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged his American counterpart Donald Trump to stay on Ukraine's side in its fight against Russia. In his appeal, Zelenskyy asked Trump to not abandon Ukraine's struggle in its fight against one person.

"They have to stay with ... a democratic country which is fighting against one person. Because this person is a war. Putin is a war. It's all about himself. It's all about one person. And the country, all his country is in the prison," Zelenskyy told CNN.

He was speaking on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian President said that US is too powerful and significant to withdraw its support for a democracy standing up to Moscow's aggression. "If they really want to stop Putin, America's so strong," he said.

Zelenskyy admitted that Ukrainians are exhausted after years of war, but stressed that yielding to Putin's demands is not an option. "We can't just give him everything he wants. Because he wants to occupy us. If we will give him all he wants, we will lose everything — all of us, people will have to run away or be Russian," he told CNN.

When asked whether Trump is putting adequate pressure on Putin, Zelenskyy bluntly answered: "No".

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is prepared to halt the war along the existing front lines. He, however, stressed that Ukrainian forces would not pull back from the parts of the eastern Donetsk region that remain under Kyiv's control.

"Russia wants (us) just to withdraw our army ... We can't be such, sorry, foolish guys. We are not children. We went through this war, during all these years, and so we just, we can’t give them the country on (a) plate," he told CNN.

"For people who live there, it's very important what security they will have … 200,000 people live there. What do I have to say (to them) and what (do) our soldiers have to say — 'Okay, bye, bye. We go away. You are Russian from this moment'," Zelenskyy added.