Zelenskyy: US Officials Influenced by Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believes American officials are being influenced by Russian propaganda as his country attempts to negotiate a war ceasefire.

Zelenskyy spoke with Time magazine after his Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance this month that ended in a shouting match. Zelenskyy said his goal at the Oval Office meeting was to dispel what he believed was the influence of Russian propaganda on the White House.

"Our warriors in Moshchun were outnumbered 13 to 1," Zelensky told Time at the site of a battle that prevented Russia from seizing Kyiv. That is not propaganda, he insisted. "That's a fact."

Trump and Zelenskyy negotiated for weeks on how the U.S. could access Ukraine's minerals and were expected to sign an agreement after their meeting in the Oval Office, before their argument derailed those plans, Time reported.

Zelenskyy told Time that he was upset that Trump believed Russian President Vladmir Putin's claim that thousands of Ukrainian troops in Kursk had been surrounded by Russian forces.

"That was a lie," Zelenskyy said. "I believe Russia has managed to influence some people on the White House team through information. Their signal to the Americans was that the Ukrainians do not want to end the war, and something should be done to force them."

At the Oval Office meeting, Zelenskyy said Ukrainians were hoping for proof the U.S. remained an ally.

"But in that moment there was the sense of not being allies, or not taking the position of an ally," Zelenskyy said. "In that conversation, I was defending the dignity of Ukraine."

Zelenskyy said he hopes Trump will realize Putin is a weak man who can't be trusted, and the disaster it would be if Russia was victorious.

"They have their own ambitions. They see their role in history," Zelenskyy said. "That's why I don't believe in these apocalyptic scenarios. Honestly, I don't."