Zelenskyy says U.S. too often asks Ukraine, not Russia, for concessions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope ⁠on Saturday (February 14, 2026) that U.S.-brokered peace talks next week in Geneva will be serious and substantive, but he voiced concern that Ukraine ‌was being asked “too often” to make concessions in the negotiations.

“We truly hope that the ‌trilateral meetings next week will be serious, substantive, helpful ‌for ⁠all us but honestly sometimes it feels ⁠like the sides are talking about completely different things,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference.

The Ukrainian leader said ​he was feeling “a little ‌bit” of pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who yesterday (February 13, 2026) said Mr. Zelenskyy should not miss the “opportunity” to make peace soon.

“The Americans often return to the topic ‌of concessions and too often those concessions are ​discussed only in the context of Ukraine, not Russia,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.

However, he added that he ⁠hoped the U.S. would stay involved in the negotiations, and that there would be an opportunity for Europe, ‌which he said was currently sidelined, to play a bigger role. Mr. Zelenskyy has in the past expressed concern that U.S. Congressional mid-term elections could focus the Trump administration on domestic political issues after the summer.

Ukraine and Russia have engaged in two recent rounds of ‌talks brokered by Washington in Abu Dhabi, which were described by ​the sides as constructive but did not achieve any major breakthroughs.

Russia said its delegation to Geneva ⁠would be led by Putin adviser Vladimir Medinsky, a change ⁠from Abu Dhabi at which Russia’s team was led by military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov.

Ukrainian sources ‌have previously criticised Mr. Medinsky’s handling of the talks, accusing him of delivering history lessons to the Ukrainian ​team instead of engaging in substantive negotiations.

‘Weapons developing faster than political decisions to end war’

Mr. Zelenskyy decried that arms are developing faster than political efforts to end the Russian invasion, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

“Weapons evolve faster than political decisions meant to stop them,” he told the Munich Security Conference, saying that Iranian-designed Shahed drones that Russia launches have become much deadlier as the war drags on.

‘Putin is a slave to war’: Zelenskyy

Mr. Zelenskyy also said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was a “slave to war.”

“No one in Ukraine believes (Putin) will ever let our people go, but he will not let other European nations go either, because he cannot let go of the very idea of war. He may see himself as a tsar, but in reality he is a slave to war,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.

‘Every power plant in Ukraine damaged in Russian strikes’

Every power plant in Ukraine has been damaged by Russian attacks, Mr. Zelenskyy said, as Kyiv and its allies accuse Moscow of deliberately freezing Ukraine’s population.

“There is not a single power plant in Ukraine that is not damaged by Russian strikes,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. “Sometimes we manage to deliver new missiles for our Patriots or NASAMS just before an attack and sometimes at the very last moment,” he added, calling for speedier arms deliveries for Ukraine’s Western-supplied air defence systems.