Zelenskyy: Very high risk that all talks with Russia can grind to a halt

Kateryna Tyshchenko – Friday, 29 April 2022, 20:45

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said that the risk that all talks with Russia will grind to a halt was very high.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Polish media

According to Zelenskyy: "The risk that all talks [with Russia] will grind to a halt is very high.

This is precisely due to the aftermath of the Russian presence, wherever Russia goes it is more or less the same everywhere. I feel like they have some kind of a rule book for murder and they have all acted the same way in the territories which we are liberating and where we can see for ourselves [what they have done]."

Details: Zelenskyy said that the negotiating process was currently "much slower."

"Representatives of the [Russian] delegation are present in the video meetings, they maintain some sort of dialogue [with the Ukrainian delegation]. They talk [to us], they raise certain issues. But…if I am interested to know what our side, our delegation, thinks, we are interested in what our diplomats and our negotiators have prepared, on their side I do not want to be participating in this one man’s show. They are talking about some things on their side, but we know that only one person gets to decide," Zelenskyy is convinced.

He believes that only direct talks between the presidents of Ukraine and of the Russian Federation will be able to solve any of the important questions.

"When they, for example, agree to a [prisoner] exchange – I don’t believe that. They agree to some sort of exchange of civilians, and then something goes wrong. Once, twice, three times. This testifies to the fact that in Russia only one person has the capacity to make decisions. And that’s why only direct negotiations will be effective and direct agreements will be implemented. This is what I believe to be the case and how I understand this whole process," Zelenskyy stressed.

Earlier: President Zelenskyy warned Russia that if Mariupol defenders are killed in Russian shelling or if a so-called "referendum" takes place on the Russian-occupied territory of Kherson Region, Ukraine will withdraw from all negotiations with the Russian Federation.