Exclusive: In extended interview with the Guardian, Ukraine’s president says he will offer US firms lucrative reconstruction contracts to try to get Trump onside

If Donald Trump withdraws US support for Ukraine, Europe alone will be unable to fill the gap, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned, on the eve of what could be his most consequential diplomatic trip since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago.

“There are voices which say that Europe could offer security guarantees without the Americans, and I always say no,” said the Ukrainian president during an hour-long interview with the Guardian at the presidential administration in Kyiv. “Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees,” he added.