Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told FOX News's Bret Baier that he would not apologize for Friday's failed meeting with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“No, I respect president, and I respect American people, and I think that we have to be very open and very honest and I’m not sure that we did something bad,” Zelensky said, as reported by CNN. “I think some things we have to discuss out of media with all respect to democracy and free media.”
When Baier asked him later in the interview if he regrets the exchange with Trump, Zelensky said, “Yes, I think it was not good.”
“I’m always open to media, but there are very sensitive things. I just want to be honest and I just want our partners to understand the situation correctly, and I want to understand everything correctly,” Zelensky said.However, when Baier later asked him if he believed if relations between Washington and Kyiv could be fixed, Zelensky said he was positive they could.
"Yes, of course. It’s relations more than two presidents. Its historical relations, strong relations, between two nations."
Zelensky does NOT believe he did anything wrong in his conversation with Trump and Vance.He said that he respects the US President and the American people and once again thanked them for their support of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/RbwlAcZXJT
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) February 28, 2025
"We are very thankful for the American people and sorry for this. I mean, we wanted very much to have only strong relations, and I'm very confident we will have it."
Ukraine wants more US support
In the interview, Zelensky said that he wished that his country had more support from the current administration.
"I want him to be more on our side," he said. "
When Baier asked if Zelensky thought Trump was acting as Putin's accomplice, the Ukrainian president said that he wished for more US support.
"I want to be very honest; I want him to be more on our side. Of course, all of the Ukrainians want to hear [the] strong position of the United States on our side," he said. "From one side, it's understandable. On another side, he wants to find some kind of way of dialogue with Putin."
The president then emphasized what he viewed as dual-party support in the US for actions against the Kremlin.
Why did the meeting fail?
Zelensky's interview came after a disastrous meeting on Friday in Washington, in which Trump and Vance berated him for an assumed lack of respect for the US's aid in the Ukraine- Russia War.
The US president pressured Zelensky to make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and threatened to pull US support if no progress was made.
“You’re either going make a deal or we’re out,” Trump said. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”
"You don't have the cards. Once we sign that deal, you're in a much better position. But you're not acting at all thankful, and that's not a nice thing. I'll be honest. That's not a nice thing."
"You're gambling with the lives of millions of people, you're gambling with World War Three," the president said.