Just ahead of his trip to the United States where he's expected to meet with President Biden later this week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an interview to The New Yorker wherein he mounted a risky and unexpected direct attack on Trump's pick for Vice President, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
Zelensky told The New Yorker in response to Trump's promises to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war that "Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how."
"With this war, oftentimes, the deeper you look at it the less you understand," Zelensky contined.
The Ukrainian leader was then asked about Trump's VP pick, to which the reply was "He is too radical." Here is how that section of the interview began...
New Yorker: Vance has come out with a more precise plan to—
Zelensky: To give up our territories.
New Yorker: Your words, not mine. But, yes, that’s the gist of it.
Zelensky: His message seems to be that Ukraine must make a sacrifice.
And Zelensky continued: "This brings us back to the question of the cost and who shoulders it. The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable."
"This would be an awful idea, if a person were actually going to carry it out, to make Ukraine shoulder the costs of stopping the war by giving up its territories," Zelensky said.
He asserted that this wouldn't bring an end to the fighting regardless and that Trump and Vance's vows to end the war is "just sloganeering".
Zelensky then suggested that it is "dangerous" for men which such talking points to rise to power and that they could spark global war through irresponsible policies. He was then quoted in The New Yorker as follows:
[Vance and others who share his views] should clearly understand that the moment they start trading on our territory is the moment they start pawning America’s interests elsewhere: the Middle East, for example, as well as Taiwan and the U.S. relations with China. Whichever President or Vice-President raises this prospect—that ending the war hinges on cementing the status quo, with Ukraine simply giving up its land—should be held responsible for potentially starting a global war. Because such a person would be implying that this kind of behavior is acceptable.
I don’t take Vance’s words seriously, because, if this were a plan, then America is headed for global conflict. It will involve Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Taiwan, China, as well as many African countries.
He then in a patronizing way told "Mr. Vance" to "read up on the history of the Second World War" while suggesting that his plan with Russia is tantamount to 'appeasing' Hitler.
We expect that the Trump team isn't going to take too kindly to Zelensky's attack on both Trump and Vance.
The rhetoric from the interview specifically in regards to Vance was much more direct than usual.
Typically Zelensky has appeared more cautious with his criticisms, not wishing to offend a potential future Republican administration; however, that caution seems to have gone out the window.