President Zelensky shared this in an interview with Italian journalist Cecilia Sale for the newspaper Il Foglio, published by the President's Office.
It should be noted that U.S. President Donald Trump urged Russia to halt its war against Ukraine and reach an agreement. Otherwise, he threatens with taxes, tariffs, and sanctions.
Zelensky believes that Donald Trump genuinely wants to end the war. However, he states that he is unaware of the specifics regarding how the U.S. president plans to achieve this and suggested that Trump himself might also "not know all the details."
"There is a signal from a strong person. He doesn't fire warning shots; he delivers a direct message right away," Zelensky declared.
In his view, Putin is not interested in ending the war, and Russia "only understands the language of force."
"Trump is aware of all these challenges and simply says that we need to end the war because it will get worse. He uses the term 'worse' with a tilt toward Russia. This is a strategy that I find appealing today," the president said.
Recall that the day before, the new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Donald Trump's administration is striving not just for the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war but also to prevent it from recurring in 2-4 years.
Even before taking office, he asserted that it is unrealistic to believe that Ukraine can drive Russian troops out of its territory. Therefore, Kyiv, he suggested, will have to make concessions, just like Moscow.
Earlier, special envoy of the elected U.S. president for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, stated that he aims to find a resolution regarding the war within 100 days after Trump's inauguration. He assured that Trump "is not trying to give anything to Putin or the Russians," but is focused on "preserving Ukraine and its sovereignty."
Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that during any possible negotiations with Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin will insist that Ukraine become a neutral state and that the occupied territories remain with Russia.