Zelenskyy dismisses Trump’s claim that Russia wants peace, says he knows Putin ‘much better’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected President Donald Trump’s claims that Russia is serious about pursuing peace on Sunday.

Zelenskyy made the statement during an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” with host Martha Raddatz. He argued that Putin wants the war to continue, though Ukraine is still engaged in ceasefire negotiations.

“With all due respect to President Trump, I think it’s just his personal opinion,” Zelenskyy said when asked about Trump’s view of Putin. “Trust me, we understand the Russians much better, the mentality of the Russians, than the Americans understand the Russians. I know for sure Putin doesn’t want to stop the war.”

He went on to push back on Trump’s analogy, likening the Russia-Ukraine war to two children fighting in a park.

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Putin has no intention of allowing the war in Ukraine to end. (Getty Images)

“We are not playing in the park with the Russians like two boys, two kids. Putin is not a kid. So we can’t compare and we cannot say okay, let them fight for a while,” Zelenskyy said, recounting the story of a Ukrainian man who lost his wife and three children to missile strikes.

“That’s why we are not kids at the playground. Putin is a murderer who came to the park to kill kids,” he added.

Trump gave the analogy during a state visit by German Chancellor Friederich Merz to the Oval Office last week.

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US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 5, 2025. ( BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

“Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy – they hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart, they don’t want to be pulled,” Trump said.  “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.”

Trump said he gave that analogy to Putin in his call with him last week and said he told the Kremlin chief “maybe you’re going to have to keep fighting and suffering a lot.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a cabinet meeting via video conference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

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Ukraine and Russia have so far held two rounds of peace talks with few tangible results.

Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report.