Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Tuesday, May 24th. I'm Nyla Voodoo.

Today, the U.S. is negotiating a deal among Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Egypt.

We've got the scoop on what could be a big step in the region. But first,

today's one big thing. Vladimir Zelensky talks with Axios.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky spoke yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos,

Switzerland, with an appeal to business leaders. It is necessary to set a precedent for the

complete withdrawal of all foreign businesses from Russian market. Last night from Davos,

Axios' Jonathan Swan interviewed President Zelensky via Zoom in an Axios exclusive.

World Editor Dave Lawler was also there and joins me now from Switzerland to unpack what we

learned. Hey, Dave. Hi, Nyla. Dave, first, what was President Zelensky's overall goal opening

an appearance to the most powerful and elite folks in the world at this World Economic Forum?

Yes, Zelensky is not here in Davos, but he is very much the star of the show. Nonetheless,

hit a couple of big messages. One was he wants maximum sanctions on Russia. He said that includes

an end to all trade with Russia, so really considerably beyond what's happened so far.

And he also said he wants it to stay on the minds of the people who have the power to help Ukrainians,

both from a humanitarian perspective, either people in government or who can put pressure on

government to continue to take the stronger steps that he says are necessary to put pressure on Russia.

And that's also was the topic of a conversation that President Zelensky had with our own Jonathan

Swan in an interview that happened later in the evening. And President Zelensky spoke about the

possibility of meeting with President Putin. I think it will be more difficult to arrange any kind

of meeting at the presidential level between the two countries for the two countries. It is

difficult because there is the line that can hardly be crossed after Bucha,

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