Nothing personal between me and Trump, Zelensky tells CNN

After a bitter rift with Donald Trump left many in Ukraine fearing that the US president had swung behind Russia again, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the dispute head on: there’s nothing personal between me and Trump, he told CNN, but cozying up to Vladimir Putin would only “make him stronger.”

Ties between the US and Ukraine have badly deteriorated in recent weeks.

Zelensky said Trump was “on the wrong side of history” after he announced a deal to buy Russian fuel, upending international efforts to isolate Russia. Trump then waived some sanctions against Russia, drawing criticism even from his own party. Ukraine’s forces found their access to the Elon Musk-run Starlink service restricted.

Speaking to CNN from Kyiv on Thursday, Zelensky took a conciliatory tone, saying the tensions were “not about personalities” – but warned that Putin had no intention of stopping the war.

“My attitude to Putin is very clear. I think that if we lift sanctions, we will make him stronger. It’s not something personal between me and President Trump, and of course I’m against of any lifting of sanctions.”

Zelensky spoke to CNN amid a renewed diplomatic push from Trump’s envoys to find a resolution to the four-and-a-half-year conflict.

On Wednesday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff spent three hours talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, controversially describing him as a “humanitarian” for his decision to release 74-year-old American prisoner Stephen Hubbard . Witkoff had met with Zelensky in Norway a day earlier.

Trump insisted on Wednesday that tightening sanctions on Russia would have meant Hubbard stayed imprisoned. “You could forget about him, you’d never see him again, he’d be back in jail for 25 years,” he said in response to a question from CNN’s Kaitlin Collins.

He added that tighter sanctions would imperil the chances of a deal over Ukraine: “When you’re close to a deal and you have delicate negotiations, you don’t put sanctions on.”

Zelensky said his meeting in Norway’s capital Oslo was productive, but that he wasn’t convinced of Putin’s commitment to peace. Following the visit from Witkoff Putin agreed to talks in November while giving few firm details.

“Putin is playing, you know, he is a player,” Zelensky said.

“It’s a pity because he plays with the lives of other people, and of course he doesn’t want (to stop the war). So what we want from our partners (is) not to give him a possibility to be stronger and break us.”

Kyiv was rocked by a series of Russian strikes between Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning, killing one person and injuring at least 22, according to local emergency services.

Massive strikes hit Kyiv hours after Putin agrees to fresh peace talks

Trump said on Wednesday his administration is “the closest we’ve been” to settling the war in Ukraine – only for Russia to launch hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles against its neighbor overnight.

So far, Putin has also maintained his maximalist demands from Ukraine – including territory. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that “the fight now is really concentrated on what happens in the remainder of Donbas,” the eastern Ukrainian region that is mostly under Russian control. He said “there’s been some creative ideas that have been put out there about how to resolve that difference.”

Speaking to CNN, Zelensky alluded to the possibility of freezing the current frontlines in order to “ceasefire, stop the killing, sit and speak.” However, he made it clear the idea of Ukraine giving up its territory to Russia is a non-starter.

“Our land is very important because it’s about people. It’s not about kilometers,” he said. “A lot of people died defending this land, defending our independence, our country.”

“Nobody will recognize these territories, which are temporarily occupied, as Russian territories, and I think Russia understands it. It’s a pity if somebody doesn’t understand, but it’s up to them,” the Ukrainian president added.

There have been some signs of tensions easing after Kyiv accused the US of limiting intelligence sharing on incoming Russian missiles, slowing down vital Starlink services and delaying weapon supplies.

Zelensky said earlier this week that intelligence sharing has been restored, but he told CNN Starshield , SpaceX’s military-grade service is not yet fully restored.

But Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptor missiles means that even though its military now gets a warning of an incoming Russian ballistic missile, it has nothing to shoot it down with.

Zelensky also told CNN Thursday that while Ukraine’s European allies have provided some air defense missiles to Ukraine, “it’s not enough to defend ourselves.”

Ukraine, Zelensky said, now mostly needs two things from its allies: “Not to lift sanctions from Putin … (and) to give us better missiles.”

CNN’s Zoe Cantley and Ben Kirby contributed to this report.

在与唐纳德·特朗普发生激烈冲突后，许多乌克兰人担心这位美国总统再次倒向俄罗斯。对此，弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基总统正面回应了这场争端：他告诉 CNN，“我和特朗普之间没有任何私人恩怨”，但与弗拉基米尔·普京走得太近只会“让他更强大”。

近几周来，美国和乌克兰之间的关系急剧恶化。

泽连斯基称，特朗普宣布购买俄罗斯燃料的交易破坏了国际社会孤立俄罗斯的努力，此举“站在了历史的错误一边”。随后，特朗普取消了对俄罗斯的部分制裁，甚至招致了来自其所在政党的批评。乌克兰军队发现自己使用埃隆·马斯克运营的星链服务受到限制。

泽连斯基周四在基辅接受 CNN 采访时语气缓和，称紧张局势“与个人无关”，但警告说普京无意停止战争。

“我对普京的态度非常明确。我认为，如果我们解除制裁，只会让他更加强大。这并非我和特朗普总统之间的私人恩怨，当然，我反对任何解除制裁的举措。”

在特朗普的外交使团再次努力寻求解决这场持续四年半的冲突之际，泽连斯基接受了 CNN 的采访。

周三，美国特使史蒂夫·威特科夫在圣彼得堡与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京进行了三个小时的会谈。他因普京决定释放74岁的美国囚犯斯蒂芬·哈伯德而称其为“人道主义者”，此番言论引发争议。威特科夫此前一天在挪威会见了泽连斯基。

特朗普周三坚称，加强对俄罗斯的制裁意味着哈伯德将继续被监禁。“你可以把他忘了，你再也见不到他了，他会在监狱里待上25年，”他在回答CNN记者凯特琳·柯林斯的提问时说道。

他还补充说，更严厉的制裁会危及就乌克兰问题达成协议的机会：“当你接近达成协议并且正在进行微妙的谈判时，你不会实施制裁。”

泽连斯基表示，他在挪威首都奥斯陆的会晤富有成效，但他并不确信普京对和平的承诺。在维特科夫访问之后，普京同意在11月举行会谈，但并未透露太多细节。

“你知道，普京在玩弄权术，他是个老练的玩家，”泽连斯基说。

“这很可惜，因为他拿别人的生命开玩笑，而且他当然不想（停止战争）。所以我们希望我们的伙伴不要给他任何机会变得更强大，从而击垮我们。”

基辅从周三晚间到周四凌晨遭到一系列俄罗斯空袭，据当地紧急救援部门称，造成一人死亡，至少 22 人受伤。

普京同意重启和平谈判数小时后，基辅遭到大规模空袭。

特朗普周三表示，他的政府“比以往任何时候都更接近”解决乌克兰战争——结果俄罗斯一夜之间向其邻国发射了数百架无人机和弹道导弹。

迄今为止，普京仍坚持对乌克兰提出最高要求，包括领土割让。美国国务卿马可·卢比奥周三告诉记者，“现在的斗争真正集中在顿巴斯剩余地区局势的发展上”，顿巴斯是乌克兰东部一个大部分由俄罗斯控制的地区。他说，“关于如何解决这一分歧，已经提出了一些富有创意的想法。”

泽连斯基在接受CNN采访时暗示，有可能冻结目前的战线，以便“停火、停止杀戮、坐下来谈判”。但他明确表示，乌克兰向俄罗斯割让领土的想法是行不通的。

“我们的土地非常重要，因为它关乎人民，而不是公里数，”他说。“很多人为了保卫这片土地、保卫我们的独立、保卫我们的国家而牺牲。”

“没有人会承认这些暂时被占领的领土是俄罗斯领土，我认为俄罗斯也明白这一点。如果有人不理解，那很遗憾，但那是他们的事，”乌克兰总统补充道。

在基辅指责美国限制对来袭俄罗斯导弹的情报共享、减缓重要的星链服务以及延迟武器供应之后，紧张局势出现了一些缓和迹象。

泽连斯基本周早些时候表示，情报共享已经恢复，但他告诉 CNN Starshield，SpaceX 的军用级服务尚未完全恢复。

但乌克兰拦截导弹严重短缺，这意味着即使乌克兰军方现在能够收到俄罗斯弹道导弹来袭的预警，也没有任何武器可以将其击落。

泽连斯基周四还告诉 CNN，虽然乌克兰的欧洲盟友向乌克兰提供了一些防空导弹，“但这不足以保卫我们自己”。

泽连斯基说，乌克兰现在最需要盟友的两件事：“不要解除对普京的制裁……（以及）给我们更好的导弹。”

CNN的佐伊·坎特利和本·柯比对本报道亦有贡献。