President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that he felt no pressure to make concessions in a peace agreement with Russia shortly after his hour-long phone call with US President Donald Trump. In fact, as more details emerge about the call, Ukraine seems poised to receive more air defense systems and a possible deal on keeping the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant out of Russian hands.
“I want to be very frank,” Zelensky said on Wednesday. “Today I have not felt any pressure. That’s a fact,” he told journalists at a press conference, explaining that Trump had passed along details of his conversation this week with Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin, insisting that no concessions were demanded of Ukraine, at least for now.
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Zelensky added at Wednesday’s conference that Ukraine recently had received more F-16 fighter jets, and that Trump promised him more air defenses were on the way.
“Several F-16s have flown to Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “I’m not going to tell you how many.”
He also refused to reveal the country that provided them, although the timing of the announcement happens to roughly coincide with a series of calls between him and French President Emmanuel Macron. Zelensky also said he would visit France next week.
According to a readout of the phone call provided by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Trump told Zelensky he would help him located additional Patriot missiles.
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White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt clarified the president’s position at press briefing on Wednesday, noting, “President Zelensky asked for additional air defense systems to protect civilians, particularly Patriot missile systems, and President Trump agreed to work with him to find what is available, particularly in Europe.”
Last week, Zelensky asked France and Italy to provide more SAMP/T missile systems. The Italian government, led by Giorgia Meloni, had decided to send two SAMP/T batteries. That leaves only three such systems left in Italy, and its Defense Ministry has had to order ten more as a result.
(In recent days, the Wall Street Journal had written that the performance of these weapons had been disappointing: far below the standards guaranteed by the American Patriot batteries.)
Zelensky on Wednesday also said that he and Trump had discussed possible US ownership of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the continent’s largest, which has been under Russia-control since 2022.
Trump told Zelensky that the United States could own and run the plant.
“We talked only about one power plant, which is under Russian occupation,” said Zelensky, referring to the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
According to the White House readout of the call: Trump “discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants” and “said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise.
“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”