Ukraine must be involved in any negotiations for a peace deal with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted on Sunday.
The Ukrainian leader says that he won’t accept any deals made between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin if he and his team are not also invited to the table.
‘I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine – never,’ Zelesnky told NBC Meet the Press host Kristen Welker. ‘And our people, never. And our adults, and children, and everybody, it can’t be so.’
‘The war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses,’ the Eastern European president added. ‘And we are thankful for all the support, unity between USA… But there is no[t] any leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us about us.’
Trump and Putin have been speaking about reaching an agreement as the Ukraine war reaches the conclusion of its third year this month.
But Ukraine officials and other European leaders claim they were not informed that the bilateral meetings were taking place.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for an emergency summit on Sunday as news broke of their talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News that there will be no peace deal between Russia and Ukraine without Kyiv having a seat at the negotiating table
It comes as President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold talks to reach an agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine – without inviting other European leaders to engage in negotiations
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, 80, encouraged Europe to join the conversation about the Ukraine-Russia conflict, but ultimately said they won’t have a final say in the resolution.
Kellogg defended Washington’s desire to keep the meeting intimate and said last time too many countries were involved and no agreement was reached.
Trump says the Ukraine-Russia conflict would have never started if he were elected for a second consecutive term in 2020 instead of Joe Biden getting into office.
Zelensky also told NBC News in his sit-down with Welker that there is a 100 percent risk of Russia occupying Europe if the U.S. pulls out of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a group into which Ukraine has not been permitted entry.
During President Biden’s tenure, the U.S. sent $65.9 billion in aid to Kyiv. Conservatives and Republicans have lamented the large amount of assistance for a country that is not even part of NATO.
Zelensky in his Sunday interview said that Ukraine has a ‘low chance to survive’ if the U.S. stops supporting their efforts against Moscow.
Vice President J.D. Vance met with Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday where Trump’s No. 2 said: ‘We want the killing to stop, but we want to achieve a durable, lasting peace. Not the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road.’
Zelensky also said that there is a 100 percent chance that Russia occupies other European countries – especially former Soviet bloc countries – if the U.S. pulls out of NATO
But Europe is in full meltdown mode after Trump said NATO countries need to start paying their fair share towards the group. He said last week that NATO allies need to pay 5 percent of their respective countries’ gross domestic product (GDP) toward their own nation’s defenses.
There are concerns that the U.S. could abandon its NATO allyship if they don’t bend to Trump’s will.
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Zelensky told Welker that when meeting with Vance last week that he told the VP if the U.S. pulls out of NATO, then Russia will invade other European nations.
He said the entire alliance will be destroyed if the U.S. exits.
‘Russia have (sic) 220 or 250 brigades, and Europe has 50. That is the answer. The risk that Russia will occupy Europe is 100%,’ Zelesnky warned.
‘If the United States pulls out of NATO, Russia will occupy Europe?’ Welker sought to clarify.
‘Yes,’ he insisted. ‘Not all the (sic) Europe. They will begin from those…. small countries who’ve been in the USSR, in the Soviet Union.’
He speculated over whether Russia has ambitions to take most of Europe of just some, saying: ‘I don’t know [if[ they will want 30 percent of Europe, 50 percent, I don’t know. Nobody knows. But they will have this possibility.’