Does Zelenskyy think Russia would have invaded Ukraine if Trump had been president?

Zelenskyy said nobody can know. The invasion happened under Joe Biden and not under Trump, and Trump's friendly relationship with Putin might have prevented a full-scale attack, he allowed. But Putin chose the moment, Trump's term would have ended anyway, and Putin's goal of occupying Ukraine would not have changed, so in Zelenskyy's view the president matters less than Putin staying in power.

• Zelenskyy said he asked Biden for preemptive sanctions before February 24, 2022, and Biden would only promise them after an invasion.
• Zelenskyy called that refusal a mistake in his view.

▸In their words

“I think Trump had a special relationship with Putin” Volodymyr Zelenskyy · at 49:15 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett (2026-10-22). Read the whole episode summary →

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