Zelensky and Fridman, who is also a computer scientist, spoke for nearly three hours for the podcast’s latest episode, which has amassed five million views on YouTube alone.
During their conversion, Zelensky dropped his guard on numerous occasions, swearing and reverting to his former career as a leading comedian in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin ‘does not love his people’: Volodymyr Zelensky.Credit: Bloomberg
It was a side of the Ukrainian president that has rarely been seen since Russia mounted its invasion almost three years ago.
Fridman, born in the Soviet Union, was criticised before the interview over his request to carry out the podcast in Russian, which both he and Zelensky can speak fluently.
But the Ukrainian president refused to use the language of the aggressor state.
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“The people who attack us, they speak Russian. They attack people who were only recently told that this was actually in defence of Russian-speaking people, and this is why I respect neither the leader or director of today’s Russia, nor the people,” he said.
The podcaster insisted the aim of his interview, which took place in Kyiv, was “to do all I can to push for peace”.
In a discussion over the prospect of future peace talks, Fridman suggested Zelensky would have to submit to a deal that not only pleases Ukrainians but also Putin.
“Unfortunately, the reality is that a compromise is needed in order to reach an agreement,” Fridman said.
Zelensky replied: “The fact that he is not in jail after all the murders, he’s not in jail assuming all the murders and no one in the world is able to put him in his place, send him to prison. Do you think this is a small compromise?”
He then attacked the idea of a compromise.
New recruits practice on a military training ground in Chernihiv region, Ukraine, in December.Credit: AP
Zelensky also sought to correct Fridman’s assertion that Putin loves his country.
“You are mistaken. He does not love his people. He loves his inner circle. It’s only a small part of the people. He doesn’t love them. Why? I’ll explain. You cannot send your people to another land knowing that they will die,” he said.
“Children, my daughter, she is 20 years old. For me, this is a child. She’s already an adult of course, but she’s a child. The boys he sends are 18 years old. They are children. He sends them.”
He said the danger posed by Putin meant his country had to seek “security guarantees” from its Western allies to ensure its protection from another invasion.
One plan presented by Zelensky to Donald Trump, the president-elect, was for Western governments to release $US300 billion ($480 billion) in frozen Russian assets in order for Kyiv to purchase American weapons, he told Fridman.
Trump, his aides and supporters often complain that Washington should not simply hand over weapons to Ukraine for its defence for free.
“We don’t need gifts from the United States. It will be very good for your industry, for the United States. We will put money there. Russian money, not Ukrainian, not European. Russian money, Russian assets,” Zelensky said.
Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands during their meeting at Trump Tower, New York in September 2024.Credit: AP
He also repeated a claim that he would accept partial NATO membership for his country, under which Russian-occupied territories would be excluded from the alliance’s mutual defence clauses, as “a diplomatic way to end the war”.
He said the West’s initial response to the threat of a Russian invasion before February 24, 2022, was “bullshit” .
“We didn’t receive help. If we assume that words are help, well then yes, we received a lot of it because there were plenty of words,” he added, complaining about the lack of weapons donations and sanctions against Russia before Putin’s troops crossed the border into Ukraine.
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In a sign of his reliance on Trump to help bring about peace, Zelensky devoted swathes of his podcast appearance to flattering the president-elect.
He signalled that European leaders only started taking interest in his discussions with the Americans after Trump won the US presidential election in November 2024.
“I now see that when I talk about something with Donald Trump, whether we meet in person or we just have a call, all the European leaders always ask, ‘How was it?’”
“This shows the influence of Donald Trump,” he said, in a parting shot at Joe Biden, the outgoing president, whose status has diminished in Kyiv in recent months.
He revealed that Trump had assured him their first meeting after the inauguration on January 20 would be one of the president’s first official engagements.
The interview, which was also published in full on X, was seen as a success for Zelensky.
Fridman has continued to face criticism, however, over his framing of questions towards Zelensky, especially over Russia requiring security guarantees from Ukraine.
The podcast host has been accused of recording other episodes with prominent Ukrainian figures, including a war reporter and government minister, without publishing them.
In late 2024, he was questioned over the whereabouts of interviews with Illia Ponomarenko, a journalist with more than a million social media followers, and Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister for digital transformation.
Fridman was accused of blocking users on X, Musk’s social media platform, who challenged him over the allegedly unpublished episodes.
The Telegraph, London
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