‘Putin is a murderer who came to kill the kids’: Zelensky hits back at Trump’s ‘children fighting’ remark — Here’s what he said

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country is open to a ceasefire brokered by the United States, as he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of seeking Ukraine’s “total defeat”.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News on Sunday (June 08), Zelensky insisted that only “hard pressure” from the US and its European allies would be enough to push Putin towards a diplomatic solution.

“Then they will stop the war,” Zelensky said. “I am convinced that the president of the United States has all the powers and enough leverage to step up,” he added.

Ukraine rejects past ceasefires as Russia kept launching attacks

Zelensky warned that temporary ceasefires in the past were never respected by Russia, as missile strikes and attacks continued.

“People have to understand that we are under strikes, under attack every day,” he said. “You might remember that when they were talking about ceasefires, they still continued attacking and launching strikes,” he added.

Zelensky said Ukraine is willing to accept a 30-day ceasefire without demanding a US security guarantee, as long as Russia also halts hostilities.

Zelensky disagrees with Trump’s ‘children fighting’ comparison

Zelensky pushed back on US President Donald Trump’s comments, where Trump compared the war in Ukraine to “two young children fighting like crazy”.

The remark was made during Trump’s meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office. Trump said the war in Ukraine is like "two young children fighting like crazy" and "sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart."

Zelensky recalled the story of a Ukrainian man who lost his wife and children in a missile strike. “He told me, ‘I’m still looking for them beside me in the flat. And they are not there,’” Zelensky said.

“Do people who haven’t lost the kids feel something like that? Probably not. Can a president who is in America feel exactly like this father? No,” he added.

"We are not kids with Putin at the playground in the park. This is why I am saying he is a murderer who came to this park to kill the kids," he said.

Operation ‘Spiderweb’: Ukraine’s major strike on Russian bombers

Just days earlier, Ukraine carried out a coordinated drone attack targeting Russian airfields. The operation, called “Spiderweb”, reportedly destroyed around a third of Russia’s strategic bombers.

Zelensky said the secret mission had been in planning for 18 months and only hit military targets.

“We can only counter [Russia’s aggression] with force. We understood if [Ukraine’s special services could] take some steps, we can stop [Russia] in their tracks,” Zelensky said.

Kremlin calls it terrorism, Zelensky says it’s a clean military operation

Russia called the drone attacks “an act of terrorism”, a claim Zelensky strongly rejected.

“It’s [a] clean and clear military operation. It’s a step that showed everyone that we do not want this war,” he said. “We do not want to fight.”