HELSINKI: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Wednesday against heeding a Kremlin call to halt military aid for his country and announced he would speak with US President Donald Trump later within hours.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin issued the demand during a call with Trump on Tuesday, part of a rapprochement initiated by Washington that seeks to broker a complete ceasefire more than three years into the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I do not believe that we should make any concessions in terms of assistance for Ukraine but rather there should be an increase in assistance for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb.
Zelenskyy said an increase in aid would “signal that Ukraine is ready for any surprises from the Russians”.
The call between Trump and Putin failed to secure the breakthrough ceasefire that Ukraine has been pushing for, after Kyiv endorsed the US-led proposal last week.
Russia, Ukraine trade accusations of infrastructure attacks after Putin-Trump call
The Kremlin however agreed to halt Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and Zelenskyy in Helsinki said he hoped to learn details during a call later in the day with Trump.
“Today I will have contacts with President Trump and we will discuss the next steps,” Zelenskyy said.
Earlier he accused Russia of effectively rejecting a US-backed ceasefire proposal as he criticised an overnight barrage of Russian drone and missile strikes over Ukraine.
He said the attacks that killed one person, wounded others and damaged two hospitals showed “Putin’s words are very much at odds with reality”.
Zelenskyy said Washington should take a lead role in overseeing any agreement leading to a halt in Russian and Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure.
“The United States should be the main controlling entity,” Zelenskyy said. “If the Russians don’t hit our targets, we will definitely not hit their targets.”
And the Ukrainian leader said he hoped that the United States would continue to exert pressure on Russia to agree to a complete ceasefire.
Putin told Trump earlier that for a full ceasefire to work, Ukraine must not be allowed to rearm and must halt mandatory mobilisation, which Kyiv says would leave it vulnerable to further Russian attacks.
Ukraine stood ready to send a team of negotiators in Saudi Arabia for further talks covering the energy ceasefire but also a maritime truce that Kyiv had been asking for.
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