Zelenskyy accuses Russia of “playing games” with Trump — and names the one thing that would actually hurt Putin

On the eve of Russia's full-scale invasion's 4th anniversary, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave an interview to the Financial Times warning that a ceasefire without binding Western security guarantees would give Moscow breathing room to prepare a fresh assault.

Putin thinks he looks convincing, but he is "a bad actor"

When FT raised the state of US-brokered negotiations, Zelenskyy said the "Russians are playing games" and have no serious intention of ending the war. 

"I see it, because they are very poor actors. They are playing with Trump and playing with the entire world," the former film star turned president said. Of the Russian President, he noted, "Putin thinks he looks convincing and that he can be trusted. No — he is a bad actor."

Zelenskyy accused Putin of leveraging his outreach to Trump to weaken Kyiv's position ahead of any negotiations. He dismissed Putin's argument that Kyiv wants a pause in fighting only to rearm. Moscow mobilizes 40,000 troops a month and loses 35,000, he added. 

"A pause is needed by them no less than by us," Zelenskyy said. He added that "Ukraine needs a ceasefire — yesterday, today, tomorrow. We don't need a pause. We need the end of the war."

According to Ukrainian intelligence data Zelenskyy cited, each kilometer Russia seized in 2025 came at the cost of "an average of 167 people per kilometer of occupied territory." He said Russian claims about holding positions often do not match reality. 

"Where they claim to be holding positions, you can see they are not holding anything," he said, pointing to wide stretches of disputed front, and later added, "On the contrary, we have advanced." 

Previously, Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in December that Russia mobilized 406,000 people in 2025 but lost over 410,000 — meaning recruitment could not even keep pace with attrition.

$12 trillion and a clause on occupied lands

Earlier in February, Moscow had floated $12 trillion in economic cooperation proposals to Washington, citing his intelligence services. The offer contained provisions "about Ukraine" that would potentially open the door to extracting natural resources from Russian-occupied land, he told FT.

Zelenskyy said the pressure Trump put on Kyiv to make concessions for peace far exceeded anything applied on Moscow. But he remained hopeful that Trump would shift course. 

"What costs the Russians dearly is stopping their shadow fleet, stopping their companies, their ability to trade, to export energy resources from Russia, stopping sanctions evasion," he said, urging the US president to go after the revenue streams keeping Moscow's military running.

Moscow's shadow fleet of hundreds of aging tankers sustains Russian oil exports despite Western sanctions.