(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that he was counting on unity and courage from his compatriots, and pragmatism and a “constructive” approach in relations with the United States.
“We are standing strong on our own two feet. I am counting on Ukrainian unity, our courage … on the unity of Europe and the pragmatism of America,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “Because America needs success just as much as we do.”
He said he would be meeting the U.S. envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, on Thursday “and it is crucial for us that this meeting — and overall cooperation with America — be constructive.”
“Together with America and Europe, peace can be more secure and this is our goal. Success brings us together. Our unity is the strongest safeguard of our future. A future without (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, but with peace.”
Zelenskiy made his remarks after U.S.-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia this week on a settlement of the nearly three-year-old war to which Ukraine was not invited.
His remarks also followed verbal exchanges in which U.S. President Donald Trump described Zelenskiy as a “dictator without elections” for Kyiv’s rejection of a wartime election. Trump also suggested that Ukraine was responsible for Russia’s 2022 invasion.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Sandra Maler)
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