Russia and Putin · Second term · № 127
Named Zelensky, not Putin, as the one holding up a peace deal; the Kremlin said 'I agree'
“I think he's ready to make a deal. I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal.”
- Said
- , Oval Office, interview with Reuters
- Subject
- 'Zelensky' as the obstacle
- Type
- Ukraine
- Topic
- Ukraine & Russia
- Era
- Second term
What happened
Asked in a Reuters interview why U.S.-led negotiations had not ended the war, he answered 'Zelenskiy,' and said Putin was 'ready to make a deal' while Ukraine was 'less ready.' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the next day: 'I agree, that is indeed the case.' European allies had consistently argued that Moscow had little interest in ending the fighting. Ukraine had by then accepted U.S. security-guarantee terms it described as fully agreed and said the 20-point plan was 90 percent complete, and had floated a demilitarized or free economic zone in Donetsk; Russia still demanded that Ukraine withdraw from parts of Donetsk it had not captured. The remarks came two weeks after the CIA found Putin's claim of a Ukrainian attack on his residence to be untrue.