Zelensky warns US support of Putin is a ‘historic mistake’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky advised the U.S. that supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “historic mistake.”

“If United States will support Putin, I mean, it’s unbelievable, it’s tragedy, it’s historic mistake and big tragedy. That’s why I think that I don’t want to live in illusions, but I think that we have to be pragmatic,” Zelensky told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday.

“If the United States will take officially, will take the side of Russia, of course, if these two countries will be together, of course, we will not prevail, and we will not be able to stand,” he added.

Last week, President Trump went after Zelensky, stating that he was “not a good guy for us to deal with.”

During a Newsmax interview, the president was asked about Ukraine restarting attacks against Russian energy targets following Trump asking Zelensky to halt such strikes.

“Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with,” the president said. “I’m not a big fan of Zelensky. They’ve destroyed that country.”

“Well, I think they’re going to if they’re going to end up with a settlement of some kind, they’re not going to do it with [Zelensky],” Trump said when asked if he backed additional military aid for Ukraine.

The president said that he thought the Russia-Ukraine war would “end soon.”

“I think they actually both would like to see it end, but I think I find Zelensky to be more difficult to deal with than Putin,” Trump added.

Zelensky also recently slammed the president due to a deal he came to with Russia on diesel, which the Ukrainian leader called a “gift” to Putin. He added that Russia would “‘repay’ the diesel with further terror and perfidy.”