Zelenskyy’s press conference: assessment and conclusions

Author: Yurii Butusov

Yesterday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a press conference.

1. The main thing is that the United States remains an ally of Ukraine, there is no break at the moment, no official or unofficial threats to break off relations or stop the operation of Starlink have been voiced by US leaders. But there are no new decisions to continue providing assistance.

2. Ukraine's leadership is doing everything it can to reach a mutual understanding with Trump on the minerals management fund. The President does not recognise Ukraine's $500 billion debt, as Trump has said. However, the principled readiness to transfer part of Ukraine's mineral resources to the management of a single fund jointly with the United States has been achieved. By the way, the president promised that law enforcement officers would check or reassess which minerals can be taken away from unscrupulous owners. However, he did not name any deadlines, responsible persons, or oligarchs from whom something could be taken away.

3. Europe is actively supporting Ukraine and has provided assistance for the same amount as the United States. The EU has provided just over $100 billion over three years, while the US has provided $100 billion. The president estimated Ukraine's own spending on the war at $120 billion over three years. (For comparison: Russia spent at least $462 billion on the war in 2024 alone, according to CIPRI and official federal budget expenditures, meaning that in one year, Russia spent 1.5 times more on the war than Ukraine spent in total over three years).

4. Zelenskyy did not comment on Trump's accusations, except to mention that the president's rating is not low at 4%, but high at 65%.

5. In response to the question whether he was ready to leave office to achieve peace, Zelenskyy agreed. But he showed that the question was unpleasant, and with such reservations that it could be perceived as a sign that he was not really considering leaving power. Overall, the answer was logical.

6. On the defence industry. The President stated that in 2024 Ukraine was strengthening domestic arms production and produced 2.2 million drones and 154 guns, which is more than the total number of guns produced in the entire European Union. These figures will be exceeded in 2025. Ukraine produces drones and missiles of various types, develops ballistic missiles, and is even developing an analogue of the Patriot air defence system (indeed, in 2024, 154 self-propelled 155 mm "Bohdan" guns were produced under a state order. In 2024, 1.3 million drones were produced under the state order, including 1.2 million fpv drones and 100,000 long-range drones. Long-range drones - I think this figure includes everything that is not fpv, I don't know if there were 100, but there were definitely several tens of thousands. More than a million more were purchased at the expense of volunteers and local governments. In 2025, compared to 2024, the needs are not even 10% funded. We face a failure in production unless immediate decisions are made to allocate funds. As for the Patriot, it will take 15 years to reach this technological level, so we are talking about some other type of air defence system. - Y.B.).

7. On mobilisation and deadlines for completing contracts. Zelenskyy said he was relying on an experiment with recruiting young people for a 1 million hryvnia contract. He did not say whether the money would be paid to young people who had already joined the army voluntarily, as someone would have to work it out. The President said that the military commanders - Syrskyi and Drapatyi - advised to start with a 1 million contract in a few brigades with the best training (I wrote a few days ago about the 6 brigades in question - Y.B.), and in two months other brigades will be allowed to recruit young people for 1 million. He promises rotations at the front, which the military must work out. This is not the first time Zelenskyy has made this statement (but there are no changes in terms of rotations - Y.B.).

8. In general, in terms of the presentation of foreign policy issues, this was the best press conference I have heard from the President. Most of the foreign policy issues were presented in a clear and convincing manner. It was enjoyable. The confusion in the words only started when it came to domestic policy issues, which Zelenskyy never likes to answer.

9. Censor.NET was not present at the press conference, and many colleagues who were admitted were not given the opportunity to ask questions. Zelenskyy is afraid to talk to the Ukrainian media. This is once again about the issue of freedom of speech in Ukraine. There was no time to talk about the fight against corruption, abuse of power, the situation at the frontline, the significant losses of people and cities at the press conference.

Yurii Butusov, Censor. NET