Zelenskyy: Putin never wanted peace and negotiations – he only feared the USA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin never wanted negotiations or to end the war. Moscow agreed to the meeting only out of fear of US actions.

This became known from the interview of the head of state for CNN.

During the interview, the host touched on the topic of negotiations, specifically that Russia refused the Americans’ proposal to hold them in the US and instead insists on Europe.

On the question of whether this is a signal that Russia now believes that, due to rising oil prices and the US being distracted by the war in Iran, it no longer needs to even pretend to participate in peace talks, Zelenskyy said:

"First of all, they never wanted this. I’m just sharing my opinion. I know that my colleagues in the US sometimes have a different view... So Putin never wanted to stop the war. They were afraid of President Trump’s steps and pressure from America. That’s why he played this game, pretending to want negotiations," the president replied.

He added that he is still convinced that the US must put great pressure on Putin. Otherwise, he won’t engage in negotiations.

"He only wants ultimatums from us to leave our territory. But he won’t stop there... That’s not enough for him," said the head of state.

Zelenskyy emphasized that the situation in Iran, as well as the weakening of sanctions policy, gives Putin money and more confidence that he can continue the war.

In summary, the president added that if the goal is really to end the war, then they need to meet, and Kyiv asks the US to clearly set the date for the next trilateral negotiations.

"Now the American side has postponed the meeting because of Iran. But if we really want to stop the war, we must meet. We must meet at the level of technical groups... at the level of leaders. We need more pressure on Russia. If we don’t take these steps, we won’t get closer to peace," Zelenskyy summed up.