The art of the deal? Zelenskyy says a Ukraine-Russia agreement must come through Trump negotiations

MUNICH (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to President Donald Trump's history as a dealmaker on Friday, offering flattering words as he sought the U.S. president's leadership in negotiations that could end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“I hope that we can count that, really, President Trump will help us,” Zelenskyy said during the Munich Security Conference. “I really count on him because he is the president of the United States."

Trump was not in Munich, but his presence loomed large over the gathering.

Zelenskyy, speaking in English during a panel discussion with U.S. senators, did not hesitate to lay on the approbation for the U.S. president: “I see, yes, that he is a strong man. And if he will choose our side, and if he will not be in the middle, I think he will pressure and he will push Putin to stop the war. He can do it.”

The Ukrainian president's comments came after Trump upended years of steadfast U.S. support for Ukraine by talking directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a call on Wednesday. The U.S. president has been vague about his specific intentions, other than suggesting that a deal will likely result in Ukraine being forced to cede territory that Russia has seized since it annexed Crimea in 2014.

Trump has long played up his deal-making abilities stretching back to his days as a New York developer — including in his 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal,” and his reality TV show, “The Apprentice.”

Zelenskyy on Friday said he will agree to meet with Putin “only after we have common plan with Trump,” and told the crowd Trump had recently given him his telephone number.

Some in Munich were wary about what Trump's dealmaking might produce. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was “convinced that a simple ‘make a deal and leave’ would weaken us all: Ukraine and Europe, but also the U.S.”

But Lithuania’s defense minister said Europe needs to admit the “harsh reality” that it needs the United States — and Trump, whom she called “creative” with “out-of-the-box solutions.”

Dovilė Šakalienė said Europe needs to “muscle up” and the continent must band together against Russia.

“We cannot get in a quarrel. We cannot become hostile to each other,” Šakalienė told The Associated Press in Munich.

In Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put the spotlight on his boss as personally leading any negotiations.

“President Trump will be the one at the table with Zelenskyy and Putin,” Hegseth said, to lead to a “lasting and enduring peace” that will not embolden Russia.

But it's not just Trump who likes to emerge from every negotiation as the winner.

Hegseth said that while Trump would have a seat at the table, he expects Putin to claim victory ”no matter what."

Zelenskyy acknowledged that all parties want to claim success.

“I think everyone will try to come out of this situation as winners," Zelensky told reporters. “I mean, the United States wants victory. The Russians want this victory very much, you understand. And Ukraine — it deserves it, that’s all. And that’s why it will be very difficult. Just very difficult.”

He added: "But who said we wouldn’t overcome difficulties?”

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Scislowska reported from Warsaw, Poland, and Dazio from Berlin.