I think Zelensky indeed did state his position and make his case. And from an idealistic view, Zelensky is right. Russia invaded, Russia can't be trusted to hold to an agreement (violating the Budapest memorandum among others), etc.

What is very hard but necessary for the leader of a sovereign state is that they must judge the balance of power and not cling so tightly to right and wrong. When you are right and your enemy is wrong, but your enemy is far more powerful than you are, you need to befriend them anyways. And when America gets zero benefit from being involved, and has already spent lots of money helping out, and you want them to help you more, and you have no cards, nothing to trade for their help, then you had better offer up some cards (minerals) and you had better get down on your knees and kiss their boots. Zelensky is an idealistic child (as are many people on nostr, as was I most of my life).

Someone must have misled Zelenskyy into thinking that Trump was going to stand up to Russia for him. But if Zelensky had paid any attention to who Trump is at all, he would already have known that was an impossible hope.