Zelensky Talks Of Owning Occupied Nuclear Plant With Trump

KYIV (UKRAINE) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that he and US President Donald Trump had discussed the possibility of US ownership of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

His remarks to reporters followed Trump telling Zelensky on Wednesday that the United States could buy and operate Ukraine’s nuclear power plants in the latest of his attempts to broker a ceasefire in Russia’s invasion.

“We spoke only about one power plant, it is under Russian occupation,” Zelensky, who was in Finland on an official visit, said in an online briefing, referring to the plant in Zaporizhzhia.

The power station — Europe’s largest — was seized by Russian forces early in their invasion, which began in February 2022, and has since been a flash point of fears of a potential nuclear incident.

Zelensky has said it could take longer than two years to get that plant operational again, and that both Ukrainians and Europe needed its generation capacity.

“Do we need it? For humans indeed, and for Europe as well. The question of joining the European electronic network — definitely. We can do all this,” he said.

No ‘pressure’ from Trump –

Since taking office in January, Trump had favored a quick resolution to more than three years of bloody combat between Russia’s invading force and the Ukrainians.

Zelensky last week supported a US-led plan for a full and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, but the Kremlin rejected that and instead offered a stop to strikes on energy infrastructure.

The Ukrainian leader, who spoke to reporters from Finland, said Putin was unlikely to accept any cease-fire while Ukrainian forces still battled for control of Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv launched a bold but faltering offensive last year.

“He doesn’t want a cease-fire while our troops are on the territory of the Kursk region,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Russian forces in the Kursk region have been steadily advancing for weeks, undermining what Kyiv hoped would provide leverage in negotiations with Moscow.

The Trump administration’s rapid outreach to Russian officials, a stark contrast to the previous administration’s, has stoked worries in Ukraine that it may be pressured into unpalatable compromises, including giving territory to Russia.

But Zelensky said Trump had not put any pressure on Kyiv to submit to the Kremlin’s demands.

“I want to be honest, very honest. Today, I didn’t feel pressure from Trump, there was none. And this is a fact. You know that I have an open heart. If it had been, I would have said so plain,” he remarked.

The comments come just weeks after an astonishing standoff at the White House between the two leaders ended, in the Ukrainian delegation — led by Zelensky — leaving ahead of schedule.

‘I’m not going to tell you’ —

In his briefing to reporters, Zelensky said he spoke with Emmanuel Macron daily after the French leader substituted for Biden to call him unexpectedly during the press conference.

“Yes, I have just spoken to President Macron, to Emmanuel,” Zelensky said after answering a telephone call during the briefing. “We often talk a lot. Once a day. I will call him back after we talk.”

Zelensky also said he would travel to France next week, offering no details.

The Ukrainian leader has called on his Western allies to intensify aid even if a cease-fire holds, and said Wednesday that his country had recently received “a few” more F-16 fighter jets.

“I won’t talk about specific numbers,” Zelensky told reporters, not saying which country delivered them. Ukraine accepted its first deliveries of the US-manufactured aircraft in the past year.