Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Moscow-born podcaster Lex Fridman's suggestions that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be forgiven in a compromise leading to a peace deal.
Zelenskyy told Fridman in an interview over the weekend that Putin is a child murderer and said no forgiveness is possible, The Telegraph reported.
Zelenskyy, after asking Fridman if he has children, which he does not, told him: "This is the most important thing in life, and they simply took away the most precious thing from you. Will you ask who ruined your life before going to rip their head off? I'm just curious.
"They took your child away. Are you going to ask who did this? And they will answer that that dude did this. You will say, 'Oh, well then there are no questions.' No, no, no. You will go f***ing hell and bite their head off, and it will be fair. Can murderers be forgiven?"
Zelenskyy and Fridman, who interviewed President-elect Donald Trump during the election, spoke for nearly three hours on the podcast's latest episode, which has gathered more than 5 million views on YouTube.
Zelenskyy often dropped his guard during the podcast, even showing some glimpses of his former career as a comedian.
When Fridman floated the idea of a hypothetical meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin by the sea, Zelenskyy retorted, "One of us may drown. And I am a good swimmer.”
Fridman had been criticized before the interview after asking if the podcast could be carried out in Russian, which he and Zelenskyy speak fluently. Zelenskyy refused to use the language of the country that invaded his nation.
"The people who attack us, they speak Russian," he said."They attack people who were only recently told that this was actually in defense of the Russian-speaking people, and this is why I respect neither the leader or director of today's Russia, nor the people."
He also disagreed with Fridman's statement that Putin loves his country's people.
"You are mistaken," Zelenskyy said. "He does not love his people. He loves his inner circle. It's only a small part of the people. He doesn't love them. Why? I'll explain. You cannot send your people to another land knowing that they will die."
Putin also sends "children" to fight for him, said Zelenskyy.
"My daughter, she is 20 years old," he said. "For me, this is a child. She's already an adult of course, but she's a child. The boys he sends are 18 years old. They are children. He sends them."
Zelenskyy also spoke about Western guarantees for his country, including from President-elect Donald Trump. Zelenskyy said he had presented a plan to Trump for Western nations to free $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to allow Kyiv to buy American weapons.
"We don't need gifts from the United States," Zelenskyy said. "It will be very good for your industry, for the United States. We will put money there. Russian money, not Ukrainian, not European. Russian money, Russian asset."
However, he praised Trump during the podcast, saying that European leaders started taking interest in his discussions with Americans after Trump won the presidential election.
"I now see that when I talk about something with Donald Trump, whether we meet in person or we just have a call, all the European leaders always ask, ‘How was it?' " Zelenskyy said. "This shows the influence of Donald Trump."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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