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Per TIME’s extensive interview with and cover story on President Zelinsky. Excerpt:

The tensions that resulted from the Oval Office meeting began to dissipate about ten days later….

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After the talks in Jeddah, the U.S. agreed to resume supplies of military aid and intelligence to Ukraine. The Oval Office meeting began to seem like an unpleasant memory. From Zelensky’s perspective, not all of the fallout from that meeting was detrimental. His approval numbers spiked in the first days of March, reaching close to 70% in some polls—a level not seen since the early months of the Russian invasion.

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“Why did the Ukrainians defend themselves at the start of this war? It was because of dignity,” he told me.

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At points in the peace process, when the U.S. threatened to sanction the Kremlin for its continued bombing raids against Ukraine, “the Russians got really scared,” Zelensky says.

Over time, he still hopes Trump will realize that Putin is weaker than he seems, that he cannot be trusted, and that Russia’s victory in this war would not only be a disaster for Ukraine. It would be a loss, he says, for the entire West, and especially for the U.S. and its current leaders. Trump and his team would not accept such a loss, Zelensky says. “They have their own ambitions. They see their role in history,” not only as powerful leaders but as those who can achieve a dignified end to the war. “That’s why I don’t believe in these apocalyptic scenarios. Honestly I don’t.”

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In the coming weeks, Zelensky will keep making that case to Trump and Vance, appealing not to their narrow political interests but to their principles as statesmen and human beings.

Slava Ukraine!