Volodymyr Zelensky has said he has a ‘very bad feeling’ about war in the Middle East affecting efforts to end the fighting in Ukraine.
He also addressed the strain on the ‘Special Relationship’ between the UK and US amid the Iran war, saying the history between the two nations is ‘stronger than the emotions of two or three people’.
The Ukrainian president highlighted that Russian leader Vladimir Putin ‘will want a long war’ in the Middle East as it helps weaken the former’s country.
He told the BBC‘s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: ‘I have a very bad feeling about the impact of this war on the situation in Ukraine and the focus of America. It’s more on the Middle East than on Ukraine, unfortunately.
‘Therefore, you see that our diplomatic meetings are constantly postponed. There is one reason – war in Iran.’
He added that Donald Trump is ‘concentrating on Iran’.
On Friday, the US President said the UK ‘should have acted a lot faster’ in allowing America to use British bases to strike Iranian missile sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz.
It is not the first time Mr Trump has berated Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership over the war, with one personal attack blasting him for being ‘no Winston Churchill’.
Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) has said he has a ‘very bad feeling’ about war in the Middle East affecting efforts to end the fighting in Ukraine
Communal workers at the scene of a Russian drone strike on a residential area in Odesa, Ukraine, March 19 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion
Mr Zelensky said the two leaders should meet and ‘reload’ the relationship.
‘Keir is a smart and very good partner, absolutely,’ he explained. ‘We know there are emotions in everyone at different times. I think Keir’s in touch with President Trump, he can meet with him and reload the relationship again.
‘It happens. I don’t see a big problem, to be honest. Your history is stronger than the emotions of two or three people. Your history is simply stronger.’
Mr Zelensky also said on the programme: ‘For Putin, a long war in Iran is a plus. It means the depletion of US reserves and the depletion of air defence manufacturers, so we have a depletion of resources.
‘He needs to weaken us and this is a long process. The Middle East is one of the ways to do that.’
