Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky broke his silence after a verbal chastising at the hands of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.
The Ukrainian president took to X to express his thanks to the United States for its support in his nation’s ongoing conflict with Russia after the Vice President scolded him for not saying “thank you” during this visit.
“Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that,” he said.
After these comments, he visited Fox News, where he spoke to Bret Baier.
“I’m very thankful to Americans for all your support, you did a lot. I’m thankful to President Trump and to Congress [for] bipartisan support and I was always very thankful, from all our people. You helped us a lot from the very beginning,” the Ukrainian president said.
“We have to be very honest and we have to be very direct to understand each other,” he said.
When asked if he owed an apology to President Trump he said, “No, I respect the president and I respect the American people and I think we have to be very open and very honest and I’m not sure that we did something bad.”
But he did say that he believed he could repair his relationship with the American president and that he does want a peace deal with Russia.
“We are ready for peace, but we have to be in strong position,” Zelensky said. “What does it mean? Just to know that our army is strong, that our partners are with us, and that we have security guarantees.”
He said that the deal for Ukraine’s rare earth minerals that was supposed to be signed on Friday, but was canceled after the riff in the Oval Office, was “the first step to security guarantees.”
“But I respect my soldiers and our people, our civilians who work and support our warriors. I can’t say, ’Just stop.’ Nobody will stop, because [everybody’s] afraid that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will come back tomorrow,” the Ukrainian president said.
“We want just and lasting peace. It’s true. We want security guarantees,” he said.
He also spoke about Sen. Lindsey Graham’s suggestion that he resign as president of Ukraine.
“So [Sen. Lindsey Graham] says you need to consider resigning. Is that on the table?” the Fox News host said to the dejected Ukrainian president.
“I don’t know if he will be happy after my words. This decision can do only people of Ukraine,” Zelensky said, indicating that only the people of his nation can make such a decision by voting for someone else.
“You’re not going to step down to do a peace deal?” Baier pressed.
“No, I was always ready. I’m not sure that it’s a good idea for such proposals. But anyway, I always said if the United States will support NATO, I think that it’s enough for Ukraine,” the Ukrainian president said.
“So I think I did all I had to do, and if somebody is not happy with me, OK. But between us, yes, Americans vote for American president. Each European country votes for their president, and only Ukrainians,” Zelensky said.
“With all respect to Lindsey, if I can say Lindsey, we know each other, yes, and only Ukrainians,” he said.
The issue with his position is that, since the Russia and Ukraine conflict began, Zelensky declared martial law and will not hold elections for his citizens to make that decision.