When Vladimir Putin sent 100,000 Russian troops to his nation’s south-western border in early 2022, U.S. and foreign leaders expressed concerns about the potential for an invasion of Europe.

At the same time, newly-elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attempted to assure his people that his view from the ground was better, and that he saw little cause for concern.

After nearly 4 years, Zelenskyy’s views have changed.

The war will enter its fourth year next Monday, and now  it’s Zelenskyy issuing “high risk” warnings about Putin’s aggressive intentions and the potential for further war in Europe.

“Knowing that he did not succeed in occupying us, we do not know where he will go. There are risks that this can be Poland and Lithuania because we believe – we believe that Putin will wage war against NATO,” Zelenskyy told NBC News Sunday, according to a translator.

The Ukrainian president said that he has seen intelligence suggesting Putin is preparing to train an additional 150,000 troops in neighboring Belarus, and that those troops could be turned against a NATO nation, depending on whether or not the “United States of America will think to take its military from Europe.”

One thing is for certain, is that you can’t trust Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims about his plans for his military and “he is thinking not only about Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said, speaking for a place of experience.

The former comedian has spent the last three years as the wartime president of Ukraine and its chief international salesman, and he’s somehow managed to succeed at holding the Russian military mostly at bay while simultaneously rallying most of the world’s nations behind his cause.

It’s fair to say the situation changed substantially with the inauguration of Trump, who spent the length of his campaign for a second term questioning the wisdom of U.S. financial involvement in the war. Trump has also questioned the purpose of NATO, the members of which he claims have long taken advantage of the U.S. military.

If Trump were to carry through with his frequent promise to pull the U.S. out of NATO, that would effectively mark the end of the treaty organization and signal the fall of Europe, Zelenskyy said. Right now, he said, about 30% of NATO’s forces belong to the U.S.

Without them, “the risk that Russia will occupy Europe is 100%.”

The Ukrainian president said that he’s counting on the fact that Trump is acting in good faith when he says he wants to see a peaceful end to the war, but seemed to indicate that at this point Ukraine doesn’t have much choice but to go along with Trump’s assurances.

“Yes, I count on it. I count on it very much,” he said.

Without the U.S., Zelenskyy acknowledged, the situation would quickly turn bad for Ukraine.

“I don’t want to think about it. Yes, we have to think about it. I don’t want to think that we will not be strategic partners,” he said.

Still, no matter how much he needs Trump’s buy-in to guarantee continued U.S. support for the war, Zelenskyy said he will not accept a peace negotiation that excludes Ukraine or sees its rights given away.

“I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine. Never. And our people, never. And our adults, and children, and everybody, it can’t be so. The war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses,” And we are thankful for all the support, unity between USA – in USA around Ukraine support, bipartisan unity, bipartisan support, we’re thankful for all of this. But there is no leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us about us,” he said.

In an exchange with reporters Sunday, Trump said Zelenskyy “will be involved” in the negotiations. Trump offered no further explanation.

Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin last week before having a call with Zelenskyy. Trump said he and his Russian counterpart both share a love of “common sense” and that “both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.”

Vice President JD Vance was in Germany for the Munich Security Conference last Friday, and offered Zelenskyy a deal that would see the U.S. gain Ukrainian mineral rights as “compensation” for money the U.S. has already invested in Kyiv’s defense. Zelenskyy rejected that deal, saying it offered no security guarantees and “in my view it is not ready to protect us, our interest.”

The White House said his rejection was “short-sighted.”

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, as of February 2025, the war in Ukraine has left 12.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly 4 million people have been forced from their homes but remain in Ukraine, while a further about 6.8 million fled the country, according to UNRA.

More than 45,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in the war, and a further 390,000 injured in battle, according to Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian military estimates that more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war, and as many as 750,000 more been injured.

Herald wire services contributed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, third left, speaks during a bilateral meeting with United States Vice-President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Friday. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a video conference meeting with Bryansk Region Governor Alexander Bogomaz at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow Russia, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)