Zelenskyy says Putin 'lost the initiative' as Ukraine's tech industry reshapes the war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News that Russian President Vladimir Putin lost the initiative in the war between the two countries in a Tuesday interview, arguing Ukraine's military technology has changed the battlefield dynamic.

Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity following the funeral of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham , R-S.C., Zelenskyy reflected on Graham's support for Ukraine while discussing the state of the war and the prospects of peace negotiations.

"Since the beginning of the war, when Putin said that he will occupy us during two, three days, now we build a great mil-tech industry ," Zelenskyy said. "We have 500 companies with very strong technologies."

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The Ukrainian president said the conflict has become an innovation race, with strategy constantly evolving as weapons like drones quickly become obsolete if not adapted.

"We understand that this war is changing each three, six months," he said. "We have to change technologies."

"We have to be quicker than Putin because Putin has more people… and we have to save our people and use more technologies than [their] people."

Ukraine has shown the ability to strike military targets deep inside Russia .

Hannity pointed to Ukrainian attacks beyond Moscow and strikes that temporarily disrupted the power grid in Russian-occupied Crimea. Zelenskyy said the increased reach of his country’s military capabilities has shifted momentum away from Moscow.

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"Putin is losing 30,000 soldiers per month," he said. "There's many losses, but he doesn't want to stop this war. So now initiative [is] not in the hands of Putin."

Zelenskyy said Kyiv continues to push for a ceasefire that could pave the way to a final resolution but that his counterpart isn’t interested in any form of dialogue, adding they last spoke in 2020.

"We are asking to stop this war each day... to negotiate [a] ceasefire for some period of time and give possibility for diplomats to negotiate," he said. "But Putin doesn't want. So this is the problem."

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Much of the interview also focused on Graham, whom Zelenskyy described as one of Ukraine's earliest and strongest supporters.

"A lot of things have been changed because of such people like Lindsey," he said. "We had such supporters of Ukraine from the very beginning, who really believed in Ukraine, that Putin can't occupy us, and he couldn't."

According to Zelenskyy, Graham visited Ukraine about 10 times during the war, including trips near the front lines.

"He knew everything about Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. "The situation on the battlefield, he knew the cities, even small villages."

Zelenskyy also praised The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 , which advanced through the Senate in an 86–12 bipartisan vote and heads to the House. The legislation would impose sweeping sanctions on individuals and institutions supporting Russia's war against Ukraine.

Earlier Tuesday, Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump at the White House, where the leaders discussed expanding defense cooperation. Zelenskyy said Trump agreed to provide licenses allowing Ukraine to produce American-designed patriot missiles domestically.

Trump wrote on social media that the meeting "went very well."

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