Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday, the 27th of May, that despite his difficult relations with Donald Trump, he believes that the White House is still more annoyed with Vladimir Putin than with him, according to Politico and Reuters.
“I can say unpleasant things, but I tell the truth. And I say what I mean. And he [Putin] can sometimes say very nice things, but they are lies. And I think that intelligent people are more concerned about those who lie,” the Ukrainian President said.
“In partnership you can feel very uncomfortable, but still be partners. I think the thing with Putin is that if you think you are in dialogue, you are actually alone,” Zelenskyy added.
Zelenskyy said that he believes that President Trump and his administration, which want a quick cessation of hostilities, have now realised that Putin is not willing to end the invasion of Ukraine as the White House wants.
He added that he does not want the US to abandon the Ukrainian peace process, as Washington has threatened to do if progress is not made.
BNN already reported that while Trump has continued to berate Zelenskyy, on Tuesday Trump warned Putin that he was “playing with fire” as the Kremlin continues to bomb Ukraine with a record number of drones.
Zelenskyy, who had a notorious row with Trump in the Oval Office in late February, still wants the US to impose additional sanctions on Russia because only an intensification of pressure can force Moscow to think peace, he told reporters.
THE UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ALSO WARNED THAT RUSSIAN FORCES WERE PREPARING FOR A NEW SOUTHERN OFFENSIVE AND HAD PACKED UP MORE THAN 50 000 SOLDIERS
at the border with Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region with the aim of creating a 10km buffer zone.
“Their largest and strongest forces are now on the Kursk front,” Zelenskyy said. “To push our troops out of the Kursk region and prepare offensive measures against the Sumy region.”
BNN already reported that Russia has recently captured at least four border villages in the region. However, the Ukrainian leader stated that the Russians had retreated 4km in this area in two days.
Zelenskyy told reporters that his government was ready to continue peace talks in any format. He said he expected the next round of talks to take place on a technical level, but indicated that he would be open to a trilateral meeting with the US and Russian Presidents.
Ukraine and Russia exchanged 1 000 prisoners after a meeting of delegations from both countries in Istanbul almost two weeks ago, which failed to achieve the ceasefire sought by Ukraine, the US and Europe.
Zelenskyy said Turkey, the Vatican and Switzerland were the most realistic places for possible peace talks with Russia. But Russia said last week that it did not consider the Vatican a serious venue for talks. Malta and some African countries have also expressed interest.
Zelenskyy said that Russia had signalled that it wanted the talks to take place in Belarus, but Kyiv considers this proposal impossible given that Russian troops used the country as a launching pad to invade Ukraine in 2022.
On Ukraine’s domestic arms production, Zelenskyy said he wanted Ukraine to be allocated 30 billion US dollars this year to fully finance the available capacity of the rapidly growing sector.