Ukraine's Zelenskyy has stunning reaction when asked if he is Trump's scapegoat

Channel: CBS News

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Ukraine's president Voldemir Zalinsky

[0:01] has been meeting with European leaders

[0:03] in Brussels this week. EU leaders sought

[0:05] to assure Zalinsky that their support

[0:06] was quote as strong as ever. The visit

[0:08] comes as relations between Kee and

[0:10] Washington have come under strain.

[0:12] President Trump has criticized Ukraine's

[0:13] decision to resume strikes on Russian

[0:15] refineries, calling it quote a disgrace.

[0:19] >> Is a not a good guy for us to deal with.

[0:22] Biden gave him hundreds of billions of

[0:25] dollars,

[0:26] billions and billions of dollars. Have

[0:28] you lost faith in him?

[0:30] >> Well, I think they're going to if

[0:31] they're going to end up with a

[0:32] settlement of some kind, they're not

[0:33] going to do it with him. He doesn't want

[0:34] to settle. Uh he says he wants to

[0:37] settle, but he doesn't. No, I'm not uh

[0:39] I'm not a big fan of Zinsky. They've

[0:41] destroyed that country.

[0:43] >> For more on this, we're joined by CBS

[0:46] News international reporter Aiden

[0:47] Stretch from our London newsroom. Uh

[0:50] >> this relationship is a roller coaster.

[0:52] >> Well, the fact that Aiden, the president

[0:53] says that Zalinski has destroyed the

[0:56] country,

[0:56] >> right?

[0:57] >> Come on. I mean like just objectively

[0:59] speaking [clears throat] the person who

[1:00] has destroyed the country is Vladimir

[1:02] Putin or at least is attempting to

[1:03] destroy the country.

[1:06] >> I think that's that's right Vlad. I mean

[1:07] that's certainly what Zalinski would

[1:09] say. Um you can look at the actions over

[1:13] the previous few days. Um the US has

[1:16] played a role in in certain aspects of

[1:18] Ukraine's defense. Ukrainian officials

[1:20] telling me that uh the US withhold

[1:22] certain capabilities on Starlink and

[1:24] early warning systems on ballistic

[1:26] missiles. But Vlad, as you said, the

[1:28] damage that came as a result of that was

[1:31] not done by Ukraine or the United

[1:32] States, but Russian missiles and drones

[1:35] descending on on Ukrainian cities. Uh,

[1:38] President Zullinsky was asked today in

[1:40] Europe about his relationship with the

[1:42] White House and and what the White House

[1:43] has done in recent days. I want you to

[1:45] take a listen to to what he said.

[1:47] >> Do you think you are being treated as a

[1:50] scapegoat for his own problems?

[2:08] This is my answer.

[2:12] >> You can see the silence, the non-answer

[2:15] to that question there. But I think that

[2:17] was enough for for President Silinsky to

[2:19] demonstrate the the frustration he's

[2:21] feeling with not only the comments

[2:23] President Trump made last week, but but

[2:24] the action that's the United States have

[2:26] taken over the last week.

[2:28] >> So where do things stand in Ukraine,

[2:30] especially ahead of another winter?

[2:32] >> Well, the priority for Ukraine right now

[2:35] heading into the winter is air defense.

[2:37] Ukrainian officials told me that the

[2:39] central Russian goal right now is to hit

[2:42] energy infrastructure, power plants,

[2:44] heating plants to try and freeze the

[2:47] country this winter. They want to drive

[2:49] residents out of major cities like Keev.

[2:52] Um and Ukraine is looking for ways to

[2:54] defend against this. The ways that

[2:56] Russia can do this is one ballistic

[2:59] missiles um which they have been using

[3:01] on Ukrainian cities throughout this war.

[3:04] But right now, Ukraine is running

[3:05] dangerously low on Patriot interceptors.

[3:08] Officials tell me that they're pretty

[3:09] confident that they will not get really

[3:12] the amount they need to defend against

[3:13] these missiles. So, what can they do is

[3:16] is defend against some of the drones

[3:18] that that Russia is using, newer jet

[3:20] powered drones, uh, which are also

[3:22] attacking those same targets. Um and

[3:24] they have, you know, a better case there

[3:26] appealing to the United States, Europe,

[3:29] um for surfaceto-air missiles which can

[3:31] take down those drones, jet powered

[3:33] interceptors. And so the priority will

[3:35] be they won't be able to defend against

[3:37] every Russian threat, but putting the

[3:39] resources in the proper places to

[3:41] protect what they can heading into this

[3:43] winter.

[3:44] >> All right, Aiden Stretch reporting from

[3:46] London. Aiden, as always, we appreciate