Zelenskyy tells NBC that U.S. siding with Putin would be a 'historic mistake'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on NBC's Meet the Press, aired on Sunday, October 18, that it would be a "historic mistake" for the United States to formally take Russian President Vladimir Putin's side, and that Ukraine could not prevail if it did, NBC News reported. Speaking to moderator Kristen Welker, he said he still wanted to trust President Donald Trump and hoped Trump would reverse recent decisions on Russia.

What Zelenskyy said

According to the NBC report and the programme's transcript:

• On Trump: asked whether he trusts Trump, Zelenskyy said Ukraine wants to and hopes Trump will change his decisions. Asked whether Trump is still an ally, he answered that he hoped so.
• On the sanctions waiver: he called it a pity that Trump waived the sanctions law named for Senator Lindsey Graham, whom NBC describes as the late senator, and said the waiver was strengthening Putin's war because Putin feels he is succeeding.
• On the diesel deal: he called the U.S.-Russia diesel arrangement very dangerous, said it would strengthen Putin's will to occupy Ukraine, and said it would have no real effect on U.S. fuel prices, which he linked to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.
• On intelligence: he said U.S. warnings of incoming ballistic missiles had been blocked for three days of attacks and had since been restored.
• On Starlink: he said Ukrainian officials believe a speed limit on the service came from the U.S. government. He said SpaceX technically applied it, and that he did not know whether Trump or Elon Musk decided it, but thought both were involved.
• On air defence: he cited a persistent shortage of Patriot missiles.

Responding to Trump's remark that he finds Zelenskyy harder to deal with than Putin, Zelenskyy said he was honest with Trump and that it was better to have partners who are open and clear than partners who are killers, according to the transcript.

The Trump administration's position

Trump waived the sanctions by executive order on Friday, October 16, saying the move was in the national interest, NBC reported. Congress had passed the measures with bipartisan support, targeting buyers of Russian oil and gas. On Sunday Trump wrote on Truth Social that he did not want to drive Russia away from the bargaining table, and said Zelenskyy's strikes on Russian diesel refineries were hurting world markets.

In a Newsmax interview, Trump said Zelenskyy was not a good person for the U.S. to deal with and said he expected the war to end in a settlement soon, The Hill reported. A separate Hill report, syndicated by Yahoo News, said Zelenskyy had earlier described the diesel deal as a present to Putin.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, interviewed on the same programme, declined three times to say whether the U.S. considers Ukraine an ally, NBC News reported. He said "no sanctions were lifted on Friday" apart from the diesel embargo, that Trump wanted a 60-day pause, and he called Zelenskyy's Starlink claim very reckless. He also asked why European NATO members were not providing more Patriots. Senator James Lankford, a Republican, said on the programme that Trump was siding with the people of Ukraine and that Russia is clearly the aggressor.

Talks

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to negotiate an end to the war and urged Washington to pressure Putin rather than Kyiv, The Hill reported. NBC said he planned a call with U.S. negotiators that day. According to The Hill, the U.S. is reportedly working towards a three-way meeting with Zelenskyy and Putin, possibly at the G20 summit in Miami in December or in Europe; nothing has been confirmed.