Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confessed he is not sure he is really coping with the weight of leading a country at war, saying his time in office has been filled with bad calls that a conflict inevitably brings.
Zelensky spoke to The Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief Emma Tucker on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Tucker reminded him that during their previous conversation he had described helping his son with homework as his method of dealing with stress.
– My children are not so small any more – Zelensky said with a laugh.
He quickly grew serious, arguing that the years of fighting have left a deep mark on Ukrainian society and that time itself has become the toughest of the country’s problems.
– This is the problem with all of these challenges: time. People’s lives have become exceptionally short because of this war. That is a big problem – he said.
Doubts about coping
The Ukrainian leader did not hide his uncertainty about his own condition, admitting that he cannot say for certain whether he is managing.
– How am I holding up? I am not sure I am really coping – said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.
He explained that his motivation has less to do with public approval and more with what comes after the fighting ends.
– You know, it is not even about people respecting you. It is about being able to live on after the war, after this presidency – he said.
Zelensky added that he wants a future in which he can simply walk down the street in his own country without anyone wanting to kill him or feeling hatred towards him for having been, as he put it, a piece of trash rather than a leader.
According to the president, wartime leadership is an uncomfortable duty rather than a privilege, one that is carried out even when there is no desire to do it.
– Sometimes you know that you do not even want to do it, but you have to. (…) Everything revolves around people. People give you the energy to live. And there are people you hate, and they take all that energy away from you – he said.
Zelensky also said mistakes are a constant part of ruling during a conflict, comparing the daily work of a wartime president to an endless string of deals – a comparison he credited to US President Donald Trump.
– Here it is about the way you live. Sometimes I make mistakes. During a war you make so many mistakes… Why? (…) As President Trump says: are we making a deal? Hundreds of deals have to be made every day – he explained.
Pressure on Russia’s economy
Speaking during the general debate of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Zelensky called on world leaders to maintain and increase economic pressure on Moscow, arguing that sanctions make it harder for Russia to sustain its war effort.
– When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. And that is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor and why we ourselves are depriving Russia of revenue – he said.
Źródło: Polsat News, Fot. Polsat News
