Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked the American people and leadership and voiced hope for "strong relations," a day after an astonishing Oval Office blowout with U.S. President Donald Trump that left many uncertain where the once staunch allies stood. Zelenskyy on Saturday arrived in London for a summit organized by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with other European leaders.
“I was walking from my relatives in my city Rivne (in the western part of Ukraine) when the news from the Oval Office started to come. I even stopped to listen and read more,” said Alla Sadovnyk, Chief Editor of the Investigative Department of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine. She was part of a U.S. State Department delegation that visited Alabama to discuss the investigation and prosecution of human rights violators. Alabama Public Radio was invited to address Sadovnyk’s delegation on the news team’s groundbreaking journalism investigations, including our fourteen month project on human trafficking.
APR contacted Sadovnyk and asked about the reaction in her newsroom after Trump Vice President Vance engaged in a shouting match that unfolded Friday in the final minutes of the highly anticipated meeting at the White House between Trump and Zelenskyy seemed to dash, at least for now, Ukrainian hopes that the United States could be locked in as a reliable partner in helping fend off, and conclude, Russia's three-year onslaught.
“We were all horrified,” said Sadovnyk of the reaction in her newsroom at Ukrainian Public Television. “I don't think anyone expected that Trump and Vance would start humiliating all Ukrainians with the untruths about the war in Ukraine. In fact, it wasn't the first time. Trump's and his administration's statements about Russian war in Ukraine are crazy. They're trying to make Putin look innocent. It's the steps to rewrite history and make the aggressor a victim. This is a deliberate manipulation and an insult to everyone who defended our sovereign Ukrainian land at the cost of their own lives. Each and everyone who left their families at home to defend us from the enemy. This is an insult to widows and orphans who are innocent of anything, who just wanted to live in peace on their own land, who did not pose a threat to anyone and never intended to encroach on anyone else's. And in the evening, this news from the Oval Office. It was like the world was turned inside out.”
Republican lawmakers ranging from U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville to South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham quickly praised Trump for his handling of the situation. President Donald Trump's national security adviser says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "has not gotten the memo that this is a new sheriff in town." Mike Waltz said Saturday on Fox News that the Ukrainian leader heard from former President Joe Biden, "as long as it takes, as much as it takes, blank check."
Waltz spoke a day after a White House blowout between Trump and Zelenskyy derailed plans to sign an economic agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine. He rejected suggestions among some Trump critics that the president and Vice President JD Vance "ambushed" Zelenskyy. "That is absolutely and categorically false," Waltz said.
“Most of the people I've talked to and what I've seen on social media, they support our president,” Sadovnyk told APR news. “We don't see him saying anything to offend President Trump or the US. On the contrary, he tried to say many times that he is grateful for all the help we had from the American people. What he did is just trying to say that the Russian war in Ukraine is going from 2014 and Putin has broken many of his promises from that time, that's why we need security guarantees, not just a ceasefire. In my opinion, Trump and Vance did that on purpose, just to have the public reason to stop supporting Ukraine and give it to Russia.”
Zelenskyy on Saturday arrived in London ahead of a summit on Sunday organized by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with other European leaders. The summit will also include leaders from France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Finland, Sweden, Czechia and Romania, as well as the NATO secretary-general and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala says "Europe faces a historic test" and has to be able to take care of itself. "Nobody else will do it." Fila said Saturday that Europe has to increase its military support for Ukraine and European countries have to increase their arms spending to reach "at least" 3% of GDP.
"If we don't increase our effort fast enough and let the aggressor dictate its conditions, we won't end up well," he said.
Slovak populist Prime Minister Robert Fico repeated his country won't provide Ukraine any military or financial support that would help it fight Russia. Fico also demanded that an emergency EU summit in Brussels on Thursday agree to a call for an immediate ceasefire, "which is something that President Zelenskyy and a majority of EU member states refuse to do."
Fico said his country also wants the summit to specifically request Ukraine to reopen the transit of Russian gas to Europe. He warned that if the summit doesn't respect the Slovak requests, "the European Council might not be able to agree on its position regarding Ukraine on Thursday."
Assuming a negotiated peace is achieved, we asked Sadovnyk what would be constitute a fair resolution to the people of Ukraine.
“Of course, we want all our territory back. Because it's not just a land, it's our people who are in danger every day of being illegally detained and tortured by the Russians,” she responded. “Just because they are Ukrainians. As a journalist I have documented many such cases from the occupied territories. Russians are killing Ukrainian military and civilians every day, they have destroyed hundreds of Ukrainian cities and villages. And they won't stop. After Trump started talking about negotiations, Russia increased its attacks on Ukraine. So of course we want the guarantees. And the most reasonable would be to be a part of NATO. I must remind that Ukraine gave all nuclear weapons on the promises of USA, Russia and Great Britain to protect us. Russia has broken it's promises. I don't want to think that USA is in the same basket now. And we want simple justice. We want Russia to pay for all the crimes it has committed. Because without accountability, they will do the same thing over and over again.”
Sadovnyk noted that as she was responding to APR’s questions, she said the Russians bombed another apartment building in the city of Zaporizhzhia. Also, the famous Ukrainian writer Svitlana Povaliaieva had just lost her second son in the war. In addition, Russian forces captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed Saturday, as they continue a months long grinding offensive in what was once the country's industrial heartland. If confirmed, the capture of Burlatske and Skudne would mark a further push northwest by Russia in the eastern Donetsk region. APR News asked Sadovnyk if the Ukrainian people believed Vladimir Putin would honor a peace treaty if all sides signed it.
“He does this all the time, he breaks promises. So no one believes that he will follow the agreements without fear of being punished,” she responded. “And I must remind you that Russia took all the heritage of the USSR. Ukrainians were one of the nations that suffered a lot. We had Holodomor (Haman made feminine) in 1932-1933 which killed up to 10 million Ukrainians. Many countries agreed that this was a genocide of Ukrainians. Thousands of Ukrainians were killed or sent to work camps for being Ukrainian. Nobody was punished for these crimes. No one was punished for invading Georgia in 2008, Syria in 2015, and Ukraine in 2014. That's why we had a full-scale invasion in 2022. We can't just believe the Russians.”
The Associated Press report an open-source Ukrainian map widely used by the military and analysts showed the pace of Russian advances appeared to be slowing for a third consecutive month. The team behind the map, Deepstate, attributed this slowdown to heavy casualties. But Russian troops continued to inch forward, in what appears to be a long-term bid by the Kremlin to wear down Ukraine's defenses. Sadovnyk described conditions in her country right now.
It's horrible,” she said. “The Russians attack every day our infrastructure, they try to destroy our electricity facilities and they do have success. But the most important, they killed innocent people everyday sheltering apartment buildings even far away from the front line. I understand the emotions of my president to the Vance's words who told that he saw the stories from Ukraine. You can't understand even the little bit of what we are going through without at least a one day under the Russians drones and missiles attacks. And yes, we depend on the help of the American people. And we are grateful for all the support we have received. But it would mean little without the courage of Ukrainians who give their lives to protect our country and democracy. We have actually demonstrated and achieved what the United States has always declared: democratic elections, freedom of speech. We grew and developed after the revolution of dignity in 2014, which was against the dictatorship and against the then president's course of practical fusion with Russia. We know how to be tolerant, we really fight against corruption. And what do we get when we give our lives for the values proclaimed by the United States? Contempt from the two leaders of this country, substitution of concepts, post-truth, narratives of the Russian aggressor from the leader of the free world? Excuse me, but it seems that the Americans have made a choice that will plunge the world into the abyss. I want you to ask me if we will lay down our arms, and I will tell you that we will not. Throughout our history, we have fought and we have risen from our knees.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced thanks to the "American people" and leadership, and hope for "strong relations," less than a day after an astonishing Oval Office blowout with Trump that left many uncertain where the once staunch allies stood. Ukraine had walked into the meeting prepared to sign a mineral deal with the U.S., hoping it would be a step toward a just ceasefire, but left empty handed.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer plans to meet Saturday afternoon with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following the dramatic blowout with President Donald Trump at the White House. Zelenskyy's plane with the Ukrainian flag on its tail landed at London Stansted Airport the morning after the diplomatic spat on live TV. Zelenskyy had been due to meet with Starmer on Sunday, hours before taking part in a London summit of European leaders to discuss how to ensure a peaceful end to the war and provide security across the continent. But the timetable for their bilateral meeting was apparently sped up in the aftermath of the Washington visit.
