President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios that President Trump's new sanctions will hurt the Russian war machine, but Ukraine still needs long-range missiles to force Vladimir Putin to make peace.
Why it matters: It's been a head-spinning two weeks for Zelensky. He was rebuffed by Trump over Tomahawk missiles in a tense meeting on Oct. 17, only for the diplomatic winds to suddenly shift. Trump scrapped a summit with Putin and imposed sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term.
- In a 35-minute phone interview on Sunday, Zelensky said the sanctions "will make a difference," but suggested Putin won't budge unless Trump piles on more pressure.
- "President Trump is concerned about escalation. But I think that if there are no negotiations, there will be an escalation anyway. I think that if Putin doesn't stop, we need something to stop him. Sanctions is one such weapon, but we also need long-range missiles," Zelensky said.
Catch up quick: Trump's bombshell announcement on the eve of his meeting with Zelensky that he'd soon be meeting with Putin in Budapest set the stage for a tense encounter.
- The White House meeting included heated exchanges on the potential outlines of a peace deal and on Ukraine's desire for long-range Tomahawk missiles. Zelensky described it as "constructive" but admitted it wasn't easy.
- "My talks with President Trump were about pressure on Russia. I think he wanted to pressure them, but he didn't want to make an escalation or close the window ... for diplomacy," he said.
The intrigue: Zelensky did offer a significant concession: he'd accept Trump's proposal of freezing the front lines as the basis for negotiations.
- "I think that we understood each other," Zelensky said. "President Trump said we have to freeze the current situation and speak."
- Trump stressed that idea publicly after the meeting. But after Putin stuck to his more maximalist position — and after a call last week between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart failed to generate momentum — Trump pivoted, hard.
- The summit was off, and sanctions were on.
What he's saying: "As far as I know, the conversation between Rubio and Lavrov was not positive. They did the same after Alaska. This is the third or fourth time when Putin and his people reject what Trump says," Zelensky contended.
- He noted that Trump "got a very bad reaction" in Russia over the sanctions, including belligerent comments from President Dmitry Medvedev and "anti-American and anti-Trump rhetoric" in Russian state media.
- Zelensky said Ukraine estimates the new U.S. sanctions against Russian oil companies could cut oil exports by 50%, amounting to up to $5 billion per month in lost revenue.
- Zelensky said he hopes "new secondary sanctions" and "parallel steps from Congress" will follow.
What's next: Zelensky still believes the way to get Putin to seriously negotiate is to give Ukraine the ability to strike military and energy targets deep inside Russia.
- He said he told Trump that Ukraine wouldn't even need to use the missiles immediately. If Putin knows that not talking risks "problems with Russia's energy facilities," then he'll talk, Zelensky argued.
- "We speak not only about Tomahawks. The U.S. has a lot of similar things that doesn't require much time for training. I think the way to work with Putin is only through pressure," Zelensky said.
Behind the scenes: After the Trump-Zelensky meeting, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer suggested putting forward a peace proposal along the lines of Trump's Gaza plan.
- Zelensky discussed the issue with Starmer and other European leaders last week. He told them the situations in Gaza and Ukraine are different, but he's willing to work on it.
- The plan should be short, without too many details, Zelensky said. "Some quick points. Like a plan for a ceasefire. We decided we will work on it in the next week or ten days."
- He stressed he's skeptical that Putin is ready to accept any peace plan.
Zoom out: Zelensky pushed back on recent claims that Russia is making advances on the front lines. He said he'd made clear to Trump they were false, and claimed U.S. intelligence also showed "nobody is winning now on the battlefield."
- Zelensky claimed Ukrainian intelligence found Putin had privately boasted to allies that Russia would occupy the entire Donbas region by Oct. 15, a deadline that came and went.
- "Russia can't do it. He doesn't have enough people. His strong battalions have been destroyed. Today on the battlefield, we stay mostly where we stood during this last 2-3 months," he continued.
- Zelensky said his generals told him Russia had lost 346,000 soldiers killed and wounded in 2025. That's almost identical to the number it mobilized during that time, he said. Estimates of Russian casualties vary widely.
The latest: On Saturday night. White House envoy Steve Witkoff met in Miami with Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev to discuss the diplomatic stalemate. They met again on Sunday.
What to watch: Trump is expected to meet later this week in South Korea with the Chinese President Xi Jinping. Zelensky said he hopes the meeting will lead to a Chinese commitment to buy less Russian oil, as part of a trade deal with the U.S.
- "I think President Trump's conversation with President Xi is very important. I think the strongest step is if India and China will not buy energy from Russia, first of all oil," he said.
- Beijing has strongly criticized Trump's oil sanctions and has given no indications thus far that it's willing to cut Russia off.
