Selenskyj: “Just peace probably only after Putin”

This article first appeared on ntv.de

The question of the suit seems to surprise him: the President of Ukraine is sitting in the late afternoon RTL-Direct moderator Pinar Atalay. She wants to know if he is wearing suits. Because in fact – Wolodymyr Selenskyj has a kind of jacket. He, who otherwise only attracts military sweaters. Because he does not want to wear a suit as long as his Ukrainians die in rifle trenches. As long as Russia bombs its cities every night. As long as his country is not allowed to live in peace. When he visited the White House at Donald Trump, he was quite angry with it.

This Wednesday he gives a very practical reason: “Berlin welcomed me with rain and I had put on a bit,” explains Selenskyj with a narrow smile. “The war is not over yet,” he adds. “The clothing is a little less important.” In fact, it rained, even thunderstormed when he visited Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Bellevue Castle. But when he drove up again with his entourage, the sun had broken through and made the neighboring victory column shine.

Ukraine is still a long way from a victory. Russia is relentlessly moving, a few hundred meters every day. Selenskyj does not have too much hopes for early peace: “I see no willingness at Putin to end the war.” The talks in Istanbul, the phone call with Trump seem to be right for him. “I know what steps we have to take to end the war,” he says. First a ceasefire and then negotiate about peace. “We will probably only have a fair peace after Putin,” he says.

The location is serious, as with its first three visits to Berlin. And yet almost everything is different now: a new one sits in the Chancellery who wants to do it better than Olaf Scholz. Shortly after the oath of office, Friedrich Merz traveled to Kyiv. Three weeks later, Selenskyj made the return visit. The message beyond all agreements and declarations of intent: we stand together, now more so.

The broadcaster radiates the interview at RTL directly at 10:15 p.m., it was recorded in the late afternoon in a Berlin hotel. Selenskyj has already had a full program. A long conversation with Merz and a shorter one with Steinmeier, in between a press conference with the Federal Chancellor. He announced that they want to produce weapons together with Ukraine. The permanent question of the March mission body Taurus circulated Merz. We were only talking about long -distance weapons that one wanted to produce.

At RTL directly, Selenskyj becomes clearer, if only a little. “I don’t want to lie,” he says, “the Taurus question was discussed in the discussion. We work in this direction,” said the president. He did not want to give any further details, he agreed with Merz. He wants to have the cruise missile, he left no doubt about that. He doesn’t see him as a gamuchanger or a miracle weapon either. It takes a lot more to win the war, he says. “We need Taurus, we need Patriots, we need political pressure.” Likewise strong sanction packages and, that is important to him, German money for arms production in Ukraine. And something else is elementary: agreement between Europe and America.

It has been a problem since US President Donald Trump. Atalay plays a clip from the Oval Office. His visit to February came to the mega debacle. Trump and his vice JD Vance meadow him in front of the cameras, then threw him out of the White House. Not only in Germany was watched with an open mouth. Selenskyj smiles tortured when he looks at it again. The eyebrows jump up, the forehead is in folds. And then he holds a kind of fundamental speech when Atalay asks what he went through his head. Tenor: I represented my country and wanted to do it with dignity.

Similar to the next question, it will be similar. It is whether Donald Trump breaks more than to contribute to peace with his constant back and forth. It is such a question in which most probably most, especially Selenskyj according to “yes!” want to call. But of course he can’t say that. He needs the weapons, the money and the diplomatic help of the Americans to breathe like the air. Germany can start up its defense spending so much.

And so it dodges back into the basic. The United States often helped in history. Trump could do that too. The Americans had the right not to deliver weapons. But you should stop the arms production of Russia.

His serious face softened when Atalay asks him about his children. He has a son and daughter. He speaks to them for five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening. “My son is currently at an age at which he wants to share certain things with me. Which he may not want to share with his sister or mother. There are certain topics between father and son,” he says and over his face scurried a meaningful smile, then almost a laugh. A moment when you guess: This man was once a successful actor and comedian before becoming a politician.

His daughter, on the other hand, says he has grown up. She understands everything. Ask him. He told her how his ministers reported to him. “All children in Ukraine have grown up very quickly,” says the president. He certainly misses many important moments with his children. Because he focuses on the war.

The entire interview with Wolodymyr Selenskyj can be seen directly at RTL at 10:15 p.m.

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