Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that Russian President, Vladimir Putin is afraid of US President Donald Trump.

Trump last week threatened Putin in a Truth Social post, calling on him to make a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war or face additional tariffs and sanctions.

“Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump wrote.

However, speaking about Trump’s ‘strong’ message to Putin and if Ukraine is ready for negotiation to end the war on its part, Zelenskyy told Fox News host, Sean Hannity, through a translator on Tuesday, that Putin is afraid because he doesn’t want ‘strong Trump’ supporting Ukraine.

“This is exactly what Putin is afraid of. He doesn’t want strong Trump supporting Ukraine because it would be a strong Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.

He added, “We would like to achieve a fair end to this war. We are not afraid. Russia is not that strong, but we don’t want to lose more of our lives, men and women.”

Russia and Ukraine have been fighting for close to three years now and hundreds of thousands of casualties have been recorded as a result of the war between both neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha welcomed Trump’s ‘strong’ message to Putin.

Speaking recently at a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Sybiha said: “We do really welcome such strong messages from President Trump.”