Zelensky does not expect peace talks with “insane” Putin: “It’s a joke for him” | War Ukraine and Russia

Zelensky visited Rome, Berlin and Paris last weekend. Today the Ukrainian president is in the United Kingdom, where a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is planned. During his visit to Rome, Zelensky did an interview with Italian media. It asked if he is ready to sit down with Putin at the negotiating table. The Ukrainian president’s answer was clear: “No, we have nothing to talk about.”

Zelensky emphasized that at the beginning of his term in 2019, he tried to engage in dialogue with Putin, specifically about the hostilities in the eastern Donbas region. There was already an armed conflict going on there between the Russian army and pro-Russian separatists on the one hand and the Ukrainian army on the other.

“When I became president in 2019, there was a lot of criticism. People didn’t want to talk to Putin, but I promised to try,” Zelensky said. “But it didn’t bring me any political benefits, I really wanted to end the conflict, I wanted to reach an agreement.”

Despite his many attempts, according to Zelensky, it was impossible to organize a meeting with Putin, who “behaved like a princess”. “He never found a way for us to meet.” And although both sides finally agreed to a ceasefire in 2019, Russia did not keep that promise. “There were daily provocations. They killed and injured people every day. I called him (Putin, ed.) and said that this could not be an accident: there were snipers on the border.”

Even now Zelensky does not see the point of peace talks. According to him, Putin has no peace in mind, but only wants to use the negotiations to his own advantage. “It’s a joke to him. As he begins to see that he is getting weaker, his country is looking for something to calm the other states. So that there are no extra sanctions and we are not helped. But in a year’s time he’ll come up with another invasion to kill us. He doesn’t understand what’s happening, he’s insane.”