Ukraine dismisses Trump-Putin relationship, brushes off U.S. election fears

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNBC Thursday that he does not think there would be a big shift in support away from his country if Donald Trump is re-elected as U.S. president later this year.

Kuleba said: “So do I believe there is a potential for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Trump to agree on something behind Ukraine’s back if Trump becomes president? I don’t.”

“And it’s not just me thinking out loud, it’s the reality that dictates the understanding of the dynamics,” he said, speaking to CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the World Economic Forum in Davos about Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia.

Kuleba referred to Trump’s approval of sanctions on Nord Stream 2, the major Russian gas pipeline into Europe. He added that Trump was also the “first to sell lethal weapons to the Ukraine.”

When asked at Davos on Tuesday about the potential for Trump to serve a second term, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “Just one man cannot change the whole nation — that is my belief.”

Earlier on in his interview with CNBC, Kuleba said that he sees “no reasons to doubt the sincerity of the commitments of the Biden administration to continue helping Ukraine.”

“Nor do I have reasons to believe that the Republican Party as a whole does not realize how fundamental it is to defeat Russia in Ukraine and not to allow Russia to continue destroying the world order built by America.”

“I mean let’s be honest, the world we live in was built under American leadership,” he said.

The U.S. administration continues to push for further funding in Congress to support Ukraine in its war with Russia, which began in Feb. 2022. The U.S. has been a staunch ally of Ukraine throughout the war, supplying more than $75 billion in humanitarian, military and financial support. Washington’s latest intended assistance for Ukraine — which could amount to $60 billion — has been stranded in Congress, as U.S. President Joe Biden‘s administration and House Republicans fail to approve a broader funding agreement.

Zelenskyy met with both political leaders and major international investors in Davos this week, giving him an opportunity to discuss securing further aid and investment. Kuleba told CNBC that Zelenskyy had heard “encouraging” messages from both political and business leaders at Davos.

“The most important thing is that you feel, you sense, and you hear the commitment, the commitment to stand by Ukraine, to keep helping one way or another,” he said.  

Neither side has seen meaningful progress in the war of late, with Ukraine’s counteroffensive not having played out as expected since last year.

—CNBC’s Ruxandra Iordache contributed to this article.