Vladimir Putin will “destroy” Europe if Donald Trump pulls out of Nato, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The US president-elect has regularly expressed doubts about the longevity of the nuclear alliance, even though America is the organisation’s most powerful member.
As Trump’s inauguration on January 20 draws ever closer, the Ukrainian president issued a bleak prediction about what might happen if the Republican follows through on his threat.
Speaking to US podcaster Lex Fridman over the weekend, Zelenskyy said: “If you say that there’s a risk that Trump might leave Nato for example – which would be a decision that the US can take – I’m simply saying that if he does, Putin will destroy Europe.”
Kyiv has regularly claimed that Ukraine is just Putin’s first stop on his mission to seize Europe.
He added that Ukraine currently has the largest army in Europe with almost a million soldiers, while France has the second-largest – with approximately 200,000 troops.
In comparison, the US has the third largest army in the world in terms of manpower, with 1.4m troops as of 2022.
Meanwhile, Russia aspires to be the world’s second largest army in the world with 1.5m active troops.
And even though Putin has a very high casualty rate and “destroys everything around himself,” according to Zelenskyy, Moscow can also lean on North Korea’s troops and autocratic regime to bolster its army.
Zelenskyy said: “Can Europe bring people together? No. Will Europe be able to build an army consisting of two to three million people? No, Europe will not want to do this.”
The Ukrainian president also suggested the US president-elect should be cautious when it comes to negotiating with Putin.
He said: “If Trump, for example, immediately went for a ceasefire without serious security guarantees for Ukraine, he will give a pass to Putin.
“I’m not saying that’s what [Trump] wants, I trust what he’s saying.
“However, he would have given him a pass, opportunities, so to say.
“Because in Putin’s head is one goal – to put me at odds with Trump – in Putin’s head is to finalise the occupation of all Ukrainian territories.
“This is all in his sick head, I’m sure.”
The incoming president has promised to bring an end to the Ukraine war on his first day in office.
But he has not revealed how he would do so, sparking fears he may push Ukraine to cede occupied territories to Putin just to deliver on his vow to bring peace.