Zelensky calls on Trump to visit Ukraine to see devastation, accuses Vance of ‘somehow justifying’ Putin’s actions
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded with President Trump to visit his country to see the war’s devastation firsthand — as he accused Vice President JD Vance of “somehow justifying” Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s actions.
“We want you to come,” the Ukrainian president appealed to Trump in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday.
“You think you understand what’s going on here. Okay, we respect your position. You understand. But, please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead.”
“Come, look, and then let’s — let’s move with a plan how to finish the war,” he added.
Zelensky went on to say he wanted the commander-in-chief to witness exactly “what Putin did” — as the Trump administration continues to spearhead a deal with the Kremlin to end the three-year war.
“You will understand with whom you have a deal. You will understand what Putin did,” the Ukrainian leader said.
“We will not prepare anything. It will not be theater, with preparing actors in the streets and the [city] center. We don’t do this. We don’t need it. You can go exactly where you want, in any city which been under attacks,” he continued. “Just to come and to understand.”
His appeal came after Trump suggested again that Kyiv had triggered the war with Moscow and Vance signaled that Putin could actually be trusted.
“That’s a war that should have never been allowed to start and Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it and Putin should have never started it,�Trump said Monday. “Everybody is to blame.�
Vance, too, had accused Zelensky during their fiery White House meeting in February of showing disrespect amid the ongoing negotiations — and misleading visitors by taking them on propaganda tours of the war zones.
“It’s a shift in tone, a shift in reality, really yes, a shift in reality, and I don’t want to engage in the altered reality that is being presented to me,” Zelensky said.
“First and foremost, we did not launch an attack [to start the war]. It seems to me that the vice president is somehow justifying Putin’s actions. I tried to explain, ‘You can’t look for something in the middle. There is an aggressor and there is a victim. The Russians are the aggressor, and we are the victim.'”
The interview aired after Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, headed to Russia on Friday with the hope of pushing along peace talks that have stalled in recent weeks.
It came, too, after Russia killed at least 32 people, including two children, after launching ballistic missiles on civilians attending Palm Sunday services in Ukraine �in what authorities described as the deadliest attack on civilians so far this year.
The missile strikes targeted the northeastern city of Sumy around 10 a.m. while Ukrainians were attending church — injuring roughly 84 people.
Trump, for his part, blasted CBS in the wake of the interview, saying the network was out of control and should “pay a big price�for going after him.
“Almost every week, 60 Minutes … mentions the name ‘TRUMPâ€?in a derogatory and defamatory way, but this Weekend’s ‘BROADCASTâ€?tops them all,â€?the president raged on his Truth Social platform — referring to the Ukraine report and another on Greenland.
“CBS is out of control, at levels never seen before, and they should pay a big price for this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!�/p>
He also called on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to impose maximum fines and punishment “for their unlawful and illegal behavior.�/p>
Trump added that the program was no longer a news show but “a dishonest Political Operative simply disguised as ‘News�and must be responsible for what they have done, and are doing.�/p>
The president has an ongoing $20 billion lawsuit against �0 Minutes�for how it edited an interview with Democratic presidential rival Kamala Harris last fall. Trump claims the clip was edited in a way to make Harris look good, which the network has denied.
