Volodymyr Zelensky gave an interview to Fox News just a few kilometers from the front lines, emphasizing the importance of the Ukrainian war for Americans. In contrast to Vladimir Putin, who previously addressed the Fox audience from the Kremlin, Zelensky answered questions while standing in front of a destroyed building, which emphasized the severity of the situation in Ukraine. The interview was broadcast on Fox News, a channel with a large audience that is mostly sympathetic to the Republican Party, which gave Zelensky the opportunity to convey his main message to the American conservative population. Tucker Carlson, who interviewed Putin, also once worked for the channel, but he was fired last year. This became possible due to his unflattering statements on the topic of leadership or conspiracy theories related to 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 refuses to be interviewed at events.
Fox News host Bret Baier traveled to Ukraine to ask President Zelensky questions that matter to Americans after two years of intense military action. This is not Baier's first interview with the Ukrainian leader: they met previously both last year and the year before.
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, war, and the United States.” The interview with Zelensky, which aired Friday night, lasted less than 45 minutes.
Given that Fox News' core audience consists of Republican Party supporters, among whom are those who question the advisability of further material assistance to Ukraine, it is understandable why Zelenskyy 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, 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, capturing Kupyansk is currently Russia's main tactical goal.
Forbes pointed out that gaining a piece of the Kharkiv region would be a big election day gift from the Russian army to Putin. This fact Zelensky tried to erase from the Republicans, showing that the war continues, the fighting continues, and Ukraine currently has no “plan B.”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy identified dialogue with the United States as a priority, as Ukraine currently urgently needs assistance for further confrontation on the front against Russia.
Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine's international partners have pledged to provide it with assistance totaling almost 170 billion euros. Of this amount, 40% is military support, 50% is financial assistance, and about 10% is humanitarian aid. 42 countries have provided assistance, but the United States has been the main donor with 71 billion euros.
The Joe Biden administration has already appealed to Congress in the fall to approve additional funding for Ukraine. The proposed package, worth more than $100 billion, included more than $60 billion for costs related to Russia's war against Ukraine. However, this issue remains unresolved due to resistance from Republicans, who initially demanded that it be linked to solving domestic US problems, in particular, with increased control of the southern border.
The unusually large influx of illegal immigrants into the United States has caused a major political crisis and anger among the country's citizens. Republicans are demanding that Democrats tighten border controls, but Democrats are reluctant to do so.
Meanwhile, the US administration has stopped allocating new funds for military aid to Ukraine since the end of last year. They stated that further transfers of weapons threaten America's own security. To replenish the Pentagon's reserves depleted by two years of support for Ukraine, it is necessary to pass a corresponding law, around which disputes flared up in the Capitol.
Although it seems that both factions in the Senate have finally found a compromise, the problem remains. Donald Trump called for “not to do anything stupid,” believing that the 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 suggested that Trump personally come to Ukraine. In an interview with Fox News, he added that he was ready to go directly to the front lines with Trump. Zelensky also discussed plans for the coming year if Ukraine does not receive funding from the United States. He noted that Russia remains stronger in the sky and in terms of numbers. As for Plan B, he did not specify, but noted that Ukraine will seek alternative ways to survive. However, he emphasized the critical importance of American assistance to protect the country from the threat.
From the perspective of the average American who has watched both interviews – both Zelenskyy and Putin – one thing is obvious: Russia is calling for people not to pay attention to what is happening (“What, you have nothing to do?” Putin asked), while Ukraine is not only calling for people to closely monitor events, but also asking for help.
“There can be no difference of opinion on this war,” says Volodymyr Zelensky. “There is only one enemy, and that is Putin.” “We need long-range weapons,” adds Zelensky. “We talked about this with congressmen, I talked about this 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 Russia’s – 40 kilometers. So if the partners have such systems, why not provide them to Ukraine?”
Until now, the Joe Biden administration has been extremely reluctant to provide Ukraine with weapons systems that would allow it to inflict damage on the enemy far beyond the front lines, citing fears of “further escalation.”.
A number of ATACMS missiles with reduced range were provided after numerous appeals last fall, but things have not progressed beyond that.
While American aid was stuck halfway, Russian forces captured Avdiivka, a city in Donetsk region that they had been trying unsuccessfully to take for two years. When asked by Zelensky, Bret Baier called it Russia's biggest achievement in the past nine months.
Officials, particularly in Washington, like many experts, attribute this success of Russian troops to an acute shortage of ammunition in the Ukrainian army.
Russia has been fighting for control of the city of Avdiivka since the beginning of the war. A few kilometers from the city is a road that connects Russian-controlled Donetsk, Horlivka, and Luhansk. If the Ukrainian army were to succeed in cutting this road, it would seriously complicate the logistics of Russian troops. Russia, on the other hand, is fighting for Avdiivka with the aim of pushing back Ukrainian troops so that Donetsk does not come under fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Avdiivka is now controlled by Russia, but as Zelensky noted, this does not mean that it is functioning normally. “They destroyed everything. Their strategy is to raze everything to the ground and then move on,” the president said of the situation in Avdiivka.
Zelensky 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 of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, replacing him with Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrsky.
Asked about the Hero of Ukraine award for Zaluzhny, Zelensky said it was the general's own choice. "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 casualties in this war, but noted that there were “tens of thousands of deaths” and “tens of thousands of children deported.” “For every one of our soldiers who died in battle, there are five Russian soldiers,” he noted.
“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,” Bret Baier noted.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded with a sigh.
The topic of the negotiations was expected. Recently, Vladimir Putin assured in an interview that Russia "has never refused negotiations," but Zelensky's decree on the impossibility of negotiations with Putin makes them impossible.
Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that if Ukraine were not at war, it would now be on the verge of presidential elections. But under a law passed long before Zelensky's presidency, elections during wartime are prohibited. This is also 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, should have found a way to hold these elections.
“I really didn’t want to talk about politics because what’s happening in the war is much more important,” Zelensky said. He again referred to the law that prohibits voting during wartime.
But even if the elections were held, the incumbent president would have plenty of reason to be concerned: his approval rating currently exceeds 70%. “If the elections were held now, I would win,” Zelensky added, 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,” Zelenskyy noted. “Macron and Scholz spoke with Putin before the war started. And [Putin] claimed that there would be no invasion. So, no matter what he said, it cannot be believed.”.
“It’s not entirely fair to ask Ukrainians when the war will end,” Zelensky added. “We are doing everything we can to end it. But let’s be honest: the world is not very 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.”.
