Zelenskyy: 'It is not my job to make Trump happy'

Zelenskyy: 'It's not my job to make Trump happy'

Volodymyr Zelenskyy today emphasized the need for a European voice at the peace negotiations.

Mette Frederiksen and the Ukrainian president stressed their close relationship during today's interview. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix) 6 minutes ago

- Thank you for the support. Thank you for the support through the hard days and nights.

That message has left the lips of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy several times during his previous visits to Denmark.

And the thanks also came when the Ukrainian president and Denmark's Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, sat side by side at the University of Copenhagen to be interviewed by TV 2's Rasmus Tantholdt.

And here, the political alliance appeared roughly as impenetrable as the Ukrainian defensive positions.

- We are with Ukraine until the end of the war, Mette Frederiksen repeated in the auditorium at the University of Copenhagen.

After Nordic dispute: Not a single situation

Also when the interview moved towards the - by diplomatic standards - quite significant disagreement between Mette Frederiksen and Norway's Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, and Finland's President, Alexander Stubb, things were smoothed over.

- In a war that has been going on for so long, we of course have discussions among the allies, but nothing can weaken Nordic unity, said Mette Frederiksen, who at the end of October stated that she was "very skeptical" that the leaders of Norway and Finland had spoken with Vladimir Putin.

When Tantholdt turned to Zelenskyy, the situation was explained by saying that "it is not a simple situation they are in." Here, Ukraine's president referred, among other things, to Donald Trump's relationship with Putin and the US's suspended sanctions against Russia.

The Ukrainian woman Valentina, who lives in Denmark, had shown up at the University of Copenhagen to ask the president when she could safely take her child back to her homeland.

Who should speak for Europe?

Right now, the Ukrainian delegation is negotiating with the Americans and Russians in Abu Dhabi. But "are you sending a delegation to Abu Dhabi because you believe the Russians want peace, or are you doing it to make Trump happy," was the question from Rasmus Tantholdt to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

- It is not my job to make Trump happy, said Zelenskyy, who continued:

- It is my job to involve all leaders. All voices are important. But it is time for Europe to decide who their voice is.

Mette Frederiksen, incidentally, declined to be that voice.

The Ukrainian president also made it clear that even small progress in the peace negotiations can have great significance.

- If there can just be an agreement on an exchange of 100 prisoners, then that is a result, he said.

After the visit to the University of Copenhagen, the Ukrainian president traveled on to a working dinner with the Nordic heads of state and government at Marienborg.

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