'Not possible': Zelenskky says Donald Trump had 'enough time' to recognise Putin threat

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was "surprised" after former US President Donald Trump continued to praise Russian President Vladimir Putin even after Moscow's offensive in Ukraine. While speaking to CNN, Zelenskyy said that he believes Trump had "enough time" to recognise "who Putin is." He underscored that the former POTUS was sitting at a top position where it is "not possible" to recognise that Putin is an "opponent." 

Speaking to CNN, Zelenskyy said, "I believe he had enough time, plenty of time, to understand who Putin is." He further added, "I think he was sitting at such a high position where it’s not even possible not to recognise that he is the opponent in terms of values to your own people and [Trump] has all the might of this country - intelligence, data to create a psychological profile." He stressed that Trump was in a position where there was a need to understand who Putin is, what he aims at and what measures he will take to achieve it. Zelenskyy underlined that Donald Trump might have taken this position to "promote his domestic policy" to showcase he is ready to "find understanding" with Putin.

Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine in Trump's eyes is "too far away." However, he emphasised that the war between Russia and Ukraine has "no distances it could not cover." He stated that Trump needs to see the situation "without as we say, pink glasses on."

Earlier in February, former US President Donald Trump had called Putin's decision of declaring Donetsk and Luhansk independent "genius and savvy." In an interview with Clay and Buck, Trump said that he watched on TV that Putin declared a "big portion of the Ukraine" as "independent" and termed the move "genius." It is pertinent to note here that the Biden administration has been providing military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine ever since Russian launched an offensive. 

Zelenskyy says 'cold, hunger' less scary than Russia's 'friendship'

As the war between Russia and Ukraine marked 200 days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of carrying out missile strikes at civilian infrastructure and creating power issues in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy. In a post on Facebook, Zelenskyy asked Russia if it still believes that it can intimidate Ukrainian citizens. He asserted that cold, hunger, darkness and thirst are less "scary and deadly" in comparison to Russia's "friendship and brotherhood." Zelenskyy, in a Facebook post said, "Do you still think you can intimidate, break us, make us into action? Did you really not understand anything? Didn't understand who we are? What are we for? What are we talking about?"

Zelenskyy in the Facebook post said, "Without gas or without you? Without you. Without or without the light? Without you. Without water or without you? Without you. Without food or without you? Without you. Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst - for us not as scary and deadly as your "friendship and brotherhood". But history will put everything in place. And we will with gas, lights, water and food.. and WITHOUT you!"