Trump would be hard work, but we are hard workers, Zelensky tells BBC

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says working with Donald Trump if he is re-elected as US president will be “hard work, but we are hard workers”.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC in London, Mr Zelensky said he was willing to work with anyone who was in power in the US.

Just days ago, Trump announced Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate in November’s vote. The 39-year-old has in the past said “he doesn’t care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other”.

The nomination has renewed fears that US commitment to Ukraine could fall away if Trump is returned to the White House in November’s election.

“Maybe he really doesn’t understand what goes on in Ukraine, so we have to work with the United States,” Mr Zelensky told the BBC.

The Ukrainian leader is in the UK to attend a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), where he delivered a speech on Thursday afternoon.

The EPC, which includes the 27 members of the European Union as well as 20 non-members like the UK, is a more informal forum for co-operation.

Mr Zelensky earlier met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has vowed to stand with Ukraine for “as long as it takes” and has committed to spending £3bn on aid for the country.

He said he hoped Mr Starmer’s term in Downing Street would mark a “special” era in British foreign policy.

“I don’t think Britain’s position would change,” Mr Zelensky told the BBC. “But I would like for Prime Minister Starmer to become special – speaking about international politics, about defending world security, about the war in Ukraine.”

He added that Ukraine “doesn’t just need a new page, we need power to turn this leaf”.

On Friday morning, President Zelensky will address a meeting of the UK cabinet in person – the first foreign leader to do so since US President Bill Clinton in 1997.

He is expected to brief ministers about the situation in Ukraine and the need to ramp up Europe’s defence industrial base.

The two leaders will also sign a £3.5bn defence export finance deal.

Ukraine’s troops have faced a tough spring and earlier this week it was confirmed that they had withdrawn from the village of Krynky on the occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro river.

In recent months, the Ukrainian army has had to try and hold back Russian troops along a very long front line in the east of the country. The city of Kharkiv and the surrounding areas have sustained continued attacks as Russian forces attempt to make gains in the region.

Ukraine had hoped that its military efforts would be boosted by the arrival of F-16 planes promised by allies this summer. But Mr Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had yet to see them.

“It’s been 18 months and the planes have not reached us,” he said, saying that he was thankful for what Ukraine had been given.

But he emphasised that new fighters were essential to help Ukrainians push back against Russia’s aerial dominance and “unblock the skies”.

With the war continuing for more than two years without an end in sight, questions have been raised as to whether there could be a negotiated solution.

Last month, Switzerland hosted a Ukraine peace summit but Russia was not invited. Mr Zelensky has since said that Russia should attend a second peace summit penned for November.

He told the BBC that the whole world will need to put pressure on Russia in order to persuade it to sit down and consider ending the war.

“It doesn’t mean that all territories are won back by force. I think the power of diplomacy can help,” he said, adding that a weaker Russia on the battlefield would put Ukraine in a stronger position on the negotiating table.

“By putting pressure on Russia, I think it is possible to agree to a diplomatic settlement.”

Mr Zelensky has been Ukraine’s leader since 2019 and throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion. While elections were due this year, Ukraine’s constitution rules out a ballot during the time of martial law.

The president told the BBC that he did envisage a time when he would step down as president.

“But not until the war is over,” he said.