Ukrainian President Zelenskyy faces a delicate balance between defending Ukraine’s interests and avoiding tension with Trump, Political Science and International Affairs Professor William Lawrence says. #Zelenskyy #Ukraine
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00:00So, Zelensky says he believes the U.S. stance against Russia should be stronger.
00:06He has also accused the U.S. of changing the terms of the mineral deal and also said the
00:13U.S. could be a stronger ally.
00:16Is this a wise move to get the best deal for Ukraine?
00:20Possibly.
00:21I mean, when you're in a negotiation, sometimes you take harder stances and sometimes you
00:24take softer stances.
00:25It was interesting just today that Zelensky backed off this criticism of the American
00:30response to the Russian rejection of the unconditional ceasefire deal.
00:34We've seen back and forths after the dustup at the White House.
00:37We've seen back and forths at various times as Zelensky tries to walk that difficult walk
00:44between asserting Ukraine's best interests and not antagonizing Donald Trump.
00:49And sometimes Trump does respond to harder positions and sort of works from there.
00:54And sometimes he needs sort of more obsequious responses to gain his favor.
01:00And in that, you know, sometimes he's hard to predict.
01:02But I think Zelensky is sure of that one thing.
01:06He's sure that he has the heavier lift on convincing Trump to defend Ukraine's interests
01:12in this deal.
01:14And whenever Trump sees the pushing Russia, like he did two weeks ago when he said there
01:18might be sanctions on Russia, and he did more recently when he said the U.S. can inflict
01:22direct economic pain on Russia.