‘We’re still waiting for you’: Zelenskyy asks Vance to reconsider visiting Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again invited US vice president JD Vance to visit Ukraine during a recent phone call – but he is still waiting for a response.
In an interview with Time magazine (see our 16.16 post for more), the Ukrainian president said he had suggested that Vance reconsider his decision not to visit Ukraine during the war.
“We’re still waiting for you,” Zelenskyy told Vance, but the US official did not reply.
During the interview, Zelenskyy also said he hoped Donald Trump would realise that Vladimir Putin was “weaker than he seems” and “cannot be trusted”.
He said that while he did not believe in apocalyptic scenarios, in one of his recent phone calls with Trump, he tried to paint a picture of a scenario in which the ceasefire proves vulnerable to endless Russian violations.
Describing such a scene, he said it all the towns and cities in Ukraine that sit along the frontline would become like a “thousand Berlins” during the Cold War.
He said they would be “dead zones” on the map of Europe.
Watch: Zelenskyy and Trump’s body language during row analysed
What did Vance say to Zelenskyy in the Oval Office?
During tense talks in the Oval Office this month, Vance said Ukraine was relying on conscription.
In response to the conscription comment, Zelenskyy asked Vance: “Have you ever been to Ukraine?”
The answer, as Zelenskyy knew, was no.
Ignoring the suggestion that he should visit, Vance countered: “I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know that what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr President.”