Russia

Zelensky Trolls Putin: He Has No Phone, I Don’t Have a Telegraph

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The Ukrainian president was answering a question about whether he would pick up if his Russian counterpart called him.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky speaks during a press conference at the Ukraine Year 2024 forum on February 25, 2024 in Kyiv
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky trolled Vladimir Putin on Sunday during a press conference, implying the Russian dictator was pre-Soviet-era obsolete. Asked by a reporter in Ukrainian if he would answer Putin’s call if it ever came, Zelensky chuckled, “How will he call me? He doesn’t have a mobile phone, and I don’t have a telegraph from 1917.” The acerbic comments came a day after the Ukrainian leader more solemnly vowed that Putin “must lose absolutely everything” as the war between the neighboring countries passed the two-year mark. Western allies remain convinced that Ukraine can still emerge victorious, but stress the need for aid. “Of course Ukraine can win,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday, but only “if it has the tools that it needs. And that is why the United States needs to deliver the aid package that passed on a massive bipartisan vote in the Senate — the House needs to step up and pass that.” Days earlier, Russian forces took the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, a demoralizing blow to the withdrawing Ukrainian forces.