Zelenskyy interview: An embattled wartime leader struggling to make himself heard | World News

He’s an embattled wartime leader struggling to make himself heard.

For Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the war in Iran could not have come at a worse time.

Suddenly, the world’s attention is on a different conflict and – most crucially so – is the attention of the most powerful man in the world, Donald Trump.

Read the interview here

But this is a big 24 hours for Zelenskyy, a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street, followed by the NATO summit in The Hague.

When I sat down with Mr Zelenskyy in the last few hours, he had two main issues on his mind.

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Firstly, the proposed spending pledge by NATO countries of 5% of GDP by 2035 – that he said was too slow and warned that Putin would be ready with a new army within five years.

He said the Russian leader would likely attack a NATO country within a few years to test Article 5.

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Then he was on to sanctions, which, he told me, were not working.

Countries, including the UK, were allowing dual-use components used in the production of drones and missiles to still get into Russian hands, and that must be blocked.

He also still insisted there would be no negotiations without a ceasefire.

This war is not going well for Ukraine right now.

Nearly three-and-a-half years into it, the fighting goes on, and Mr Zelenskyy appears to be a defiant president determined to see it through.