AMNA NAWAZ: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this evening that a Russian strike on an aid station and shelter killed at least 26 people in Southern Ukraine today.

It was the latest in an unceasing series of Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and the civilians living there.

Before that bombing, I spoke with President Zelenskyy from Kyiv for a wide-ranging interview as the war remains in a stalemate, both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thank you for joining us.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President: Thank you very much for an invitation, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: So I want to begin with some news just from last night.

The air raid alert app that most of Ukraine relies on to alert them to incoming attacks, that was seemingly hacked.

It was sending out false alerts about chemical and nuclear threats in Ukraine.

Russian authorities then said today that their emergency mobile app was also hacked and sending out fake alerts.

Do you know what happened?

Did Russia hack your system and did Ukraine hack them back?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Yes, it's true.

You are absolutely right, Amna.

They attacked our system.

It was cyberattack, one of the hundreds and thousands of those been made by Russians before on banking system, on pensions, social support, a lot of different support for civilians.

And also, of course, they want each day to make chaos in Ukraine in all our cities, one of such steps by Russia.

And, of course, we -- as always, we said, and I underline it several times, that we only respond on their attacks.

So, of course, after the attack, when we -- it was very clear for all our people and for all our personal and the intelligence that it's their personal attack against our people, civilians, of course, we responded.

AMNA NAWAZ: So you're confirming you did hack them back?

And was that hack limited to this emergency mobile app?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Yes, absolutely.

We just responded on the attack.

AMNA NAWAZ: I see.

OK.

I do want to ask about news over the last few days as well, because Ukraine has now resumed strikes on Russian energy strikes -- sites rather.

As you know, President Trump and his envoys have long been pushing for some kind of energy cease-fire.

He's also repeatedly blamed you for the rise in global fuel prices because of those attacks.

Tell us why Ukraine resumed those strikes in Russia.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: We always respond, as I said, the same, like on this cyberattack, the same with the energy.

But also, with energy, we have been very clear and open to President Trump when he said that he asked us not to attack refineries.

I said, OK, we will not if Russia will not attack our energy system.

And Russia did it several times.

And it was awful attacks, massive attacks, very tough against our people.

We had huge problems with electricity.

And that's why we responded.

What is painful for them?

First of all, it's refineries, oil, energy, gas, and et cetera, and diesel, yes.

So that's why we did it.

And we asked the president to give phone call to Putin and ask him to support energy cease-fire because Trump proposed it.

But, as we understood, the Russians delayed.

I said it publicly.

We will not attack their refineries.

I hope that they will -- at the end, they will at least support not to attack our energy system.

But they attacked.

All these days, they attacked us.

And, at the end of these four days, we responded.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to ask you about your ongoing war effort and the degree to which it depends on this Starlink and Starshield system, satellite communication system that Elon Musk owns.

You have said that that system is back to a normal speed after there was a slowdown late last month.

I'm sure you saw reports that Elon Musk, who owns the system, ordered the slowdown.

He had said President Trump was responsible.

President Trump denies that.

It's very unclear to many people what happened here.

I'm asking, what is your understanding of who was behind the slowdown?

What do you believe happened?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Between us, I think that it can't work without one of the sides.

Technically, Elon and SpaceX can slow down, can stop it, and then tactically bringing back, yes.

And now it works.

So, it means that -- I mean, this -- both sides decided to block or to unblock.

I don't know... AMNA NAWAZ: When you say both sides, just to clarify, you say it would take both the president and Elon Musk to slow it down, or do you believe Musk acted alone?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: No, no, he could act alone.

I don't know -- I don't know the rules.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you believe he did?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: I'm not sure that he can do it with Starshield, because it's military.

It's government version.

I'm not sure that he could do it personally alone, without any representatives from American government.

But I don't know who from American side from the government did it, who allowed him.

I think it was a dialogue between some people, and in -- during this dialogue, the decision was negative for us.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you believe that Elon Musk supports Ukraine, that he wants Ukraine to win the war?

How worried are you, if he was behind the slowdown, that it could happen again?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: I don't know really, between us.

I wanted very much to speak with him about different issues.

We had conversation at the beginning of the war.

We spoke about different things.

And then, after, I gave so many positive messages about him.

I was very thankful for Starlink.

And we are really very thankful for this.

We have been very thankful for this.

But, sometimes, his old signals about us, about Ukraine, his -- I mean, it's not pro-Ukrainian position.

Yes, this is what I hear.

So... AMNA NAWAZ: So you have not spoken with Elon Musk since this slowdown, is that correct?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Yes, of course.

And before we spoke, I think at the beginning -- at the very beginning of the war, Elon has communication with Putin and with me.

But I wanted to speak with him after -- after all these actions from SpaceX, yes, but they didn't connect with us.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to ask you about the degree to which your war efforts do depend on this system.

And we should remind people that that system comes with limits for Ukraine.

If those limits were to be lifted, which I believe, according to reporting, you have discussed with President Trump before, what would change for Ukraine and for the war?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Russia will not have opportunity to use each day ballistic missiles against us, because we will block their launches.

It's all about weapon.

It's all about ballistic attacks against our civilians.

AMNA NAWAZ: But those are defensive actions you're talking about.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Absolutely, defensive actions.

AMNA NAWAZ: Would a raising of the limits also allow you to carry out attacks further inside Russia?

Because you have already been doing that with drones.

So why would these limits being lifted on Starshield or Starlink make a difference?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: When we speak about Starshield, they don't want to lift restrictions.

Yes, for us, it's a pity, because we raised this topic several times with the president, I think four.

I had three or four meetings exactly about it.

I said to the president, "Look, you will never have enough Patriot missiles to give Middle East and us," because we knew that he will give and he is giving more to Middle East.

And I said that: "Only one thing, open for Starshield, and we will block their ballistic launchers.

It will be very helpful for civilians to save lives."

AMNA NAWAZ: So you're saying you have asked President Trump at least three or four times to lift those Starshield or Starlink restrictions.

What's been in his response each time?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Yes, he said that he will try.

It doesn't depend on him.

He said that it depends mostly on SpaceX.

He said that he's supportive.

And I was very thankful.

I said that, if they will lift, we will use this.

We will use this opportunity to use Starshield in Russia just to find the points where ballistic launchers are.

So this is for this just to attack launchers, because if you don't have Starshield, I mean, it's very dangerous to -- to make massive attacks.

We don't work like Russians.

We can't use massive attacks, because a lot of civilians can be -- die.

So this is very important thing.

I said that it's about precisely steps of our military guys.

It's all about this, and it's how to defend us, ourselves.

AMNA NAWAZ: So you're saying you would only target the ballistic missile launch sites... VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Absolutely.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... not energy sites... VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Absolutely.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... if those limits on Starlink or Starshield were to be lifted.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mr.

President, so much of this seems to ride on your relationship with the U.S.

president, with President Trump.

And now you have seen as he has eased restrictions on Russia.

He's cut a deal to buy their diesel fuel.

His envoy Steve Witkoff has called President Putin a humanitarian.

Meanwhile, Mr.

Trump has said that you shouldn't be president.

He said that you're not interested in ending the war.

He has called you not a good guy.

I mean, how would you describe your relationship with President Trump today?

What's the word to describe it?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Emotional.

AMNA NAWAZ: Emotional.

Why?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Because, I mean, it's -- sometimes, we need to be pragmatic in this war.

Who is an enemy?

Who began this war?

Putin.

Don't find good words to describe him.

I'm not sure that it will be helpful.

Diesel deal, if you are really about money, business, and pragmatism, so don't speak that it will have influence on the price in the United States.

No, it's not true.

It doesn't work.

So, if we speak about pragmatic things, we have to support Ukraine because it has to be strong, because, otherwise, Putin will go further to Europe and to the different parts of NATO countries.

And, in this situation, America will decide difficult things.

It's very dangerous.

It's very dangerous.

So, better to make Ukraine stronger, because we are really defending Europe, not only ourselves.

Better to push stronger on Putin, not on me, not on me.

It's not me who is aggressive.

It's not me.

It's emotional.

That's what I wanted to say.

AMNA NAWAZ: Last time we spoke, I was in Kyiv, and we sat down and you shared with me about your family in particular.

I know you have both a daughter.

Your son was quite young when we spoke two years ago.

He was just 11 years old.

I remember this because he's the same age as my older child, but you said you hadn't seen him in a while, that he was asking many questions about the war.

It's been two years since we last spoke.

This war has now gone on for nearly half his life.

I just wonder what kinds of questions he is asking you now, and what do you tell him?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Interesting that our children are like adults.

It's a pity, so pity that they lost because of Russians, because of one person, because of Putin, they lost their childhood.

I mean, these years, I'd have to be very energy years, very sweet years.

We remember our childhood.

But, at the same time, our children teach us how to be strong, how to love our country, how to love our freedom, because our children not mediate us between what is good and what is bad, who is aggressive and who is not.

And they're very clear, more fair.

That's why I long each time when I have possibility to speak with my son.

He's 13, but he knows -- maybe it's a pity, but he knows everything about this war, like all the children.

I mean, this -- it's all not about my child and my children and my son.

It's all about sons and daughters of our Ukrainians, civilians and soldiers.

They are adults.

They are clever.

They are very patriotic.

They carry light in them, yes.

So they help us to live and survive.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joining us today.

Mr.

President, thank you so much for your time.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Thanks so much, Amna.

Thank you for your time, and thanks to all your nation.

God bless.

All the best and peace.