BONUS: Zelenskyy Makes Case For More Aid

He enjoys bipartisan support and some Republican resistance to funding the war.

How does he answer questions about it?

I'm Steve Inskeep. We interview Zelensky on this special edition of Up First from NPR News.

Is there any way to negotiate?

Zelensky says Russia's president can't be trusted.

or killed people, or forgot he negotiated.

and our team met a young Ukrainian couple who decided to marry while the husband was on leave from the army.

What does Zelensky say about their future? Stay with us.

On the TED Radio Hour, MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle.

Her latest research into the intimate relationships people are having with chatbots.

Technologies that say, I care about you, I love you, I'm here for you, take care of me.

The pros and cons of artificial intimacy.

That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR.

We met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week.

He was in New York City for the meeting of the United Nations,

and he took some time to talk to a team from NPR.

Zelensky was surrounded by people in suits,

although he wore his trademark military clothes,

olive green pants and a dark sweatshirt.

He settled into his chair,

and he wondered how his mixture of English and Ukrainian would come across on the radio.

If I will speak Ukrainian, they will hear a translation.

Yes.

and might not even hear much of his voice.

He wanted to reach Americans who have supported Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion.

So whenever possible, he spoke in English about shared values.

We have the same values, freedom and democracy,

and that's why we are fighting against Russia.

targeting the power grid or deporting children.

You saw it.

They deported children.

They are bombing civilians.

It's not about only front line.

It's not simple war.

By the way, war couldn't be simple,

but it's not just a war on the front line.

No.

Energy system, nuclear plant.

What is it?

What will be next?

His country has enjoyed bipartisan support,

though a right-wing faction is pushing right now to cut off U.S. funding.

Early this week, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy

seemed to reflect those right-wing views.

Is he our president?

I have questions for him.

After those remarks, McCarthy met Zelensky

and said Zelensky answered his questions.

Ukraine's leader still faces doubts about how the war would end.

Some foreign policy specialists say only diplomacy can do that.

There are Americans who have urged some kind of negotiation.

One of them is Richard Haass, a veteran U.S. diplomat,

one of a group of U.S. diplomats who met with Russian officials.

I spoke with Richard Haass, and he wanted to know,

are you willing to negotiate not over territory,

you want all your territory back,

but over the timing and the means by which that would happen?

like the deal that allowed Ukrainians to load grain onto ships to feed much of the world.

He says Russia suspended that agreement when it saw an opportunity,

in Zelensky's words, for blackmail.

I believe that with this leader, this is something that is impossible to do.

We can't achieve anything.

you said, Russia cannot be trusted.

Ask Prigozhin.

We heard a lot from intelligence and from different people,

from different leaders, what negotiations Prigozhin had.

who mutinied against Russian President Putin.

He later walked free under an arrangement

that seemed to mean that he would not be harmed,

and then died in a mysterious plane crash.

and after that he forgot it, or killed people, or forgot he negotiated.

no, no full-scale invasion, full-scale war,

no, I never will go where we are now.

Honestly, yes, it's true.

You can't negotiate with a person who really doesn't want.

that they would need to have some sort of like changes,

transformation, a new face for the country.

He concluded that it shows a problem with Russians

that they have allowed Putin to stay in power so long.

With Ukraine heading into another winter of war,

a team from NPR's Kiev bureau went out into the streets this week.

They asked Ukrainians what questions they would put to their president.

Some said they support him and have no questions at all.

But a woman named Lyudmila, who is 73, said she spoke for many.

I think we all have one desire to know when the war is over.

What can you tell her?

I think the question addressed by Lyudmila, who is a 73-year-old,

I wish her many years.

And I think this question is something that many Ukrainians would like to ask,

no matter the age.

It's easier to say when we will have a victory.

Ukraine's late summer offensive has made limited gains, but has moved slowly.

The lengthening duration of the war complicates every problem in a democratic country.

And as we reached out to Ukrainians, one asked about martial law.

Ukrainians have lived under it since the invasion started,

and our correspondent Joanna Kakissis knows what it's like in Kiev.

You've got to stop, get checked by guys with guns who look at your IDs

to make sure you're in the country legally, that you're not a saboteur.

Martial law also means curfews.

You've got to be home by midnight, or you could be detained by police.

Shopping malls, cafes, bars, those are all closed by 10 p.m.

And big gatherings like protests, music festivals, holiday celebrations,

they are largely prohibited.

and the president told us there are many obstacles

to next year's scheduled presidential election.

A Ukrainian economist said he would like to know

if Zelensky would lift some of the martial law rules,

especially one that combines the operations of TV channels.

Zelensky said the questioner should think about the value

of unified information in what is a propaganda war

as well as a shooting one.

in order to have a unit inside the country

and not to allow Russia to kind of absorb us,

I believe that those steps that were made, they were right.

that we heard from Ukrainians.

A number of Ukrainians raised concerns about corruption

and hoped that you would clean it up.

I know that in recent days you have replaced

the leadership of the Defense Ministry,

and there were some concerns about corruption there.

In your view, how widespread is corruption in the government today?

And this is why, and everyone knows about this,

so whenever we find any detail of corruption or corrupt practices,

then everything is discussed openly,

and the people are kind of dismissed.

And let us be frank, there are kind of weak people

and strong people everywhere in the world.

and you will attack it where you find it.

Is that what you're saying?

You can take steps, you can dismiss people,

you can run investigations,

and people will have to go to prison for corruption.

But we have to kind of be very strict and very fast,

because we might lose the trust and the support of our partners.

But once again, I would like to say that the way we're doing that,

the way we are kind of showing and disclosing all of this corruption,

it's not for someone to say that we are a corrupt country.

No, that's a different thing.

and came across a couple who had just been married.

They were just leaving the church.

She was in a dress, he was in his army uniform,

he was briefly on leave, and they took the opportunity to marry.

And they said, of the future, everything's going to drag on in the war.

Yes, about our family, of course, we're concerned,

but we believe in the best, because we love each other,

we will handle everything, we will overcome everything,

and we fight for our family.

They want to start a family.

What promise can you make to them about their future

and the future of their country?

I think that people who said such strong words,

and I know it's not about hoping,

I know that mostly our people, such people, that's why we will win.

But we have to stay strong.

What I can say, I will be with them, and my family will be with them,

and it's great that they will have children,

they want to have it, and that's so great,

because what we do, we do everything for the future of the children,

and that's it.

So I can't promise them that I will be with them.

Not at home.

Don't be afraid. Not at home.

But anyway, I'm happy, especially, you know, the world divided people.

Somebody's in Ukraine, somebody abroad.

But for those people who are in Ukraine, all my thanks.

I think you saved it. You did it.

The interview is on video as well as audio,

and you can see it at NPR.org.

This has been a special edition of Up First from NPR News.

Our episode was produced by Lisa Wiener and edited by Ali Schweitzer.

The questions from Ukrainians were gathered by our colleagues

Joanna Kikisis, Paulina Litvinova, Hanna Palomarenko, and Anton Loboda.

Our executive producer is Erika Aguilar.

I'm Steve Inskeep.