“I hope that we can count that, really, President Trump will help us,” Zelenskyy said during the Munich Security Conference. “I really count on him because he is the president of the United State."
Trump was not in Munich, but his presence loomed large over the gathering.
Zelenskyy, speaking in English during a panel discussion with U.S. senators, did not hesitate to lay on the approbation for the U.S. president: “I see, yes, that he is a strong man. And if he will choose our side, and if he will not be in the middle, I think he will pressure and he will push Putin to stop the war. He can do it.”
The Ukrainian president's comments came after Trump talked directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a call on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy on Friday said he will agree to meet with Putin “only after we have common plan with Trump,” and told the crowd Trump had recently given him his telephone number.
Some in Munich were wary about what Trump's dealmaking might produce. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was “convinced that a simple ‘make a deal and leave’ would weaken us all: Ukraine and Europe, but also the U.S.”
But Lithuania's defense minister said Europe needs to admit the “harsh reality” that it needs the United States — and Trump, whom she called “creative” with “out-of-the-box solutions.”
Dovilė Šakalienė said Europe needs to “muscle up” and the continent must band together against Russia.
“We cannot get in a quarrel. We cannot become hostile to each other,” Šakalienė told The Associated Press in Munich.
In Warsaw Poland on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put the spotlight on his boss as personally leading any negotiations.
“President Trump will be the one at the table with Zelenskyy and Putin,” Hegseth said, to lead to a “lasting and enduring peace” that will not embolden Russia.
