Zelenskyy wants U.S. to hit Russia with ‘maximum’ sanctions if it refuses a ceasefire

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he hopes the United States will apply “maximum additional sanctions” on Russia if it refuses to accept a 30-day ceasefire and described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “bravado” response as a stalling tactic.

“The Russians say, for example, ‘We support a ceasefire, but …’ And then after the ‘but,’ they start coming with various details to delay the process,” Zelenskyy said Friday in a meeting with Ukrainian and international news media, including NPR.

Zelenskyy’s comments capped a week of intense dialogue about how to stop Russia’s war on Ukraine. The Trump administration has held separate meetings with Ukrainian and Russian officials this week. On Tuesday, Ukraine agreed to enact a 30-day ceasefire, but so far Russia has wanted to set further conditions before reaching a short-term truce.

If Russia agrees to a short-term ceasefire, Zelenskyy said it would be possible to monitor violations using satellite data, joint intelligence with Ukraine’s allies and reconnaissance drones. “Air defense protections must be 100%,” he said, if there’s a risk of a renewed Russian invasion.

After a ceasefire, Zelenskyy said the most difficult issue is dealing with Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. Zelenskyy said this came up in talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday, between Ukraine’s team and the Trump administration representatives, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz.

“Our partners know our red lines, that we do not recognize the occupied territories as territories of Russia, and we will never recognize them,” Zelenskyy said.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump brought up “a very big power plant” when talking about possible territorial concessions, likely a reference to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. This nuclear power plant, which is not generating electricity right now, is the largest in Europe and has been under Russian occupation since 2022.

“You can’t just say, here is the plant and the city is separate,” he said.

Zelenskyy also spoke about Kursk, the region in western Russia that Ukraine occupied last summer in a surprise incursion that embarrassed the Kremlin. Since November, with the help of North Korean troops, Russia has pushed the Ukrainians out of most of area.

Putin claimed on Thursday that his troops had cornered Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk. Trump appeared to echo that in a social media post, saying “THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY” and calling on Putin to spare their lives. Speaking before Russia’s Security Council on Friday, Putin said if the Ukrainian forces “lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and decent treatment.”

On Friday, Ukraine’s military denied that its troops were encircled and said Russia had claimed this “for political purposes and to put pressure on Ukraine and its partners.”

Zelenskyy acknowledged that the situation for Ukrainian troops in Kursk “is obviously very difficult” but that they had accomplished their main objective: diverting Russian troops from the beleaguered eastern city of Pokrovsk, which has been under attack for months.

NPR Producer Hanna Palamarenko contributed from Kyiv.