Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave an interview to the Fox TV channel just a few kilometers from the front line, emphasizing the importance of the Ukrainian war for Americans. In contrast to Vladimir Putin, who previously addressed the Fox audience from the Kremlin, Zelenskyy answered questions against the backdrop of a destroyed building, underscoring the gravity of the situation in Ukraine. This interview aired on Fox News, a channel with a large audience that mostly sympathizes with the Republican Party, which provided an opportunity for Zelensky to deliver his main message to the American conservative population. Tucker Carlson, who interviewed Putin, also once worked for the channel, but was fired last year. This was made possible by his unflattering statements on the subject of leadership or conspiracy theories surrounding the election. In addition, Carlson called out other journalists, accusing them of favoring Zelensky and ignoring Putin, but it is worth noting that the Russian president often refused to attend interview events.
Fox News host Bret Baier traveled to Ukraine to ask President Zelensky questions that are of interest to Americans after two years of intense military action. This is not Bayer's first interview with the Ukrainian leader: they met earlier both last year and the year before last.
During the interview, Bayer asked Zelensky if he had watched the interview with Putin. The president replied: "I didn't have two hours to listen to delusions about us, the war and the USA." The interview with Zelensky, which was broadcast on Friday night, lasted less than 45 minutes.
Given that Fox News' core audience consists of Republican Party supporters, including those who question the feasibility of further financial aid to Ukraine, it is understandable why Zelensky chose to speak to this audience.
It is also worth noting that Zelensky invited Bayer to the Kharkiv region, near Kupyansk. At the beginning of the war, Russian troops captured this city along with a large part of the Kharkiv region and established their administration there. However, the Ukrainian armed forces recaptured a significant part of the occupied territory of the region.
Russia continues to advance in this direction, trying to recapture these territories. According to Forbes, the capture of Kupyansk is currently the main tactical goal of Russia.
Forbes indicated that the acquisition of a piece of the Kharkiv region would be a great gift to Putin before the election day from the Russian army. Zelensky tried to erase this fact in front of the Republicans, showing that the war continues, the fighting continues, and Ukraine currently does not have a "plan B".
Volodymyr Zelenskyi identified the dialogue with the USA as a priority, since Ukraine now urgently needs help for further confrontation on the front against Russia.
Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine's international partners have promised to provide it with aid in the total amount of almost 170 billion euros. Of this amount, 40% goes to military support, 50% to financial aid and about 10% to humanitarian aid. 42 countries helped, but the United States became the main donor with 71 billion euros.
Joe Biden's administration already appealed to Congress in the fall to approve additional funding for Ukraine. In the proposed package worth more than $100 billion, more than $60 billion was earmarked for expenses related to Russia's war against Ukraine. However, this issue remains unresolved due to the resistance of Republicans, who initially demanded that it be linked to the solution of internal US problems, in particular, to the strengthening of control over the southern border.
An unusually large influx of illegal migrants to the United States has caused a large-scale political crisis and caused discontent among the country's citizens. Republicans are asking Democrats to tighten border controls, but Democrats are reluctant to do so.
At this time, the US administration has stopped allocating new funds for military aid to Ukraine since the end of last year. They stated that the further transfer of weapons threatens the security of America itself. In order to fill the Pentagon's reserves depleted by the two-year support of Ukraine, it is necessary to adopt the appropriate law, around which disputes have flared up in the Capitol.
Although it appears that both factions in the Senate have finally found a compromise, the problem remains. Donald Trump urged "not to do stupid things", believing that a wave of discontent will bring him to the White House in the upcoming elections. His supporters in the House of Representatives listened to him.
Zelensky previously offered Trump to personally come to Ukraine. In an interview with Fox News, he added that he is ready to go directly to the front line with Trump. Zelenskyi also discussed plans for the coming year if Ukraine does not receive funding from the US. He noted that Russia remains stronger in the sky and in terms of numbers. Regarding plan "B", he did not elaborate, but noted that Ukraine will look for alternative ways to survive. However, he stressed the critical importance of American aid to protect the country from the threat.
From the point of view of an average American who watched both interviews – both of Zelensky and Putin – one thing is obvious: Russia is calling to not pay attention to what is happening (“What are you doing, nothing to do?” asked Putin), and Ukraine is not only calling closely follow the events, but also asks for help.
"There can be no difference of opinion on this war," says Volodymyr Zelenskyi. "There is only one enemy, and that is Putin." "We need long-range weapons," Zelensky adds. - We talked about it with congressmen, I talked about it with President Biden. Long-range ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers would help us a lot. Because this is an unfair war: our artillery has a range of about 20 kilometers, and in Russia - 40 kilometers. So if partners have such systems, why not provide them to Ukraine?”
So far, Joe Biden's administration has been extremely reluctant to provide Ukraine with weapons systems that would allow it to harm the enemy far behind the front line, citing fears of "further escalation."
A number of reduced-range ATACMS missiles were provided after numerous appeals last fall, but the matter has not yet progressed beyond that.
While American aid was stuck halfway, Russian forces captured Avdiyivka, a city in Donetsk region that they had been unsuccessfully trying to take for two years. When asking Zelenskyi, Bret Bayer called this Russia's biggest achievement in the last nine months.
Officials, in particular in Washington, as well as many experts, associate this success of the Russian troops with an acute shortage of ammunition in the Ukrainian army.
Russia has been fighting for control over the city of Avdiyivka since the beginning of the war. Passing a few kilometers from the city, there is a road that connects the Russian-controlled Donetsk, Horlivka and Luhansk. If the Ukrainian army managed to cut this road, it would seriously complicate the logistics of the Russian troops. Russia, on the other hand, is fighting for Avdiivka in order to push back Ukrainian troops so that Donetsk does not come under fire from the Armed Forces.
Currently, Avdiivka is controlled by Russia, but as Zelensky noted, this does not mean that it functions normally. "They destroyed everything. Their strategy is to raze everything to the ground and then move on," the president said about the situation in Avdiivka.
Zelenskyi also noted the achievements of the Ukrainian army over the past two years. "They occupied the Kharkiv region, but we control it now. We unblocked the Black Sea and destroyed many ships of the Russian fleet," he said. Zelensky also dismissed the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny, replacing him with Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Asked about the Hero of Ukraine award for Zaluzhny, Zelenskyy said that it was the choice of the general himself. "He defended our nation and our country, and I am very grateful to him for that," he added.
The president did not specify the number of Ukrainian losses in this war, but noted that "tens of thousands of deaths" and "tens of thousands of children were deported." "For one of our soldiers who died in battle, there are five Russian soldiers," he said.
"Critics may say that you, trying to stay in power, are in no hurry to sit down at the negotiating table to end this war," said Bret Bayer.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy answered with a sigh.
The topic of negotiations was expected. Recently, Vladimir Putin assured in his interview that Russia "never refused negotiations", but Zelenskyi's decree on the impossibility of negotiations with Putin makes their holding impossible.
Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that, if Ukraine had not been at war, it would now be on the verge of presidential elections. But according to the law, adopted long before Zelensky's presidency, elections in wartime are prohibited. This is partially prohibited by the Constitution. Bayer noted that this worries the West.
For Western countries, elections are an integral element of democracy. And Ukraine, which considers itself part of the democratic world, according to some opinions, should have found a way to hold these elections.
"I really didn't want to talk about politics, because what is happening in the war is much more important," Zelenskyy said. He again appealed to the law prohibiting voting during wartime.
But even if the elections were held, the current president would not lack reasons for concern: currently the level of support for his actions exceeds 70%. "If the elections were held now, I would win," added Zelensky, referring to his ratings. After that, he turned again to the issue of negotiations.
"Negotiations with tanks, with the destruction of our people, are not negotiations," Zelensky noted. "Macron and Scholz spoke with Putin before the start of the war. And [Putin] claimed that there would be no invasion. So no matter what he says, you can't believe it."
"It is not entirely fair to ask Ukrainians when the war will end," Zelenskyy added. "We are doing everything possible to end it. But let's be honest: the world is not quite ready for Putin's defeat. And the world is afraid of changes in Russia. So, when the world understands that Putin has crossed all the red lines, that he is not a very adequate person who threatens the whole world, whose plan is to destroy NATO, then when that happens, then the war will end."
