Zelenskyy: Putin is either unhinged or had made prior agreements on attacking Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that Russian leader Vladimir Putin may have launched the full-scale war against Ukraine after reaching agreements with other countries, but Zelenskyy himself believes that this would have been a "complete betrayal [of Ukraine by its foreign partners]".

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with The New York Times, a video of which has been posted by the President's press service

Quote: "He [Putin – ed.] is unhinged, because a sane person cannot launch a full-scale war against another state. He is either insane or he knew that he would not be punished for this, which means that there could have been some sort of dialogue with other countries.

I don't even want to consider this, because then it's not a partnership, it's a game behind our backs and a complete betrayal. So let's think that he had no [prior] agreements, and he is just an unhinged person who had decided that no one would defend Ukraine and he could capture us and destroy us."

Details: Zelenskyy complained that "with Russia, everyone leaves the door slightly open", although not as open as they did after 2014.

"But many leaders have left it a little open, thinking: ‘What will happen tomorrow? We have to somehow find a chance for tomorrow. What if Ukraine loses the war? We shouldn’t completely close the door on Russia,’" the President said.

Zelenskyy believes that if Putin was going to use nuclear weapons, he would have used them in the first year of the full-scale war, when he failed to capture Ukraine.

"He did not use them, because he may be unhinged, but he loves his own life very much. Because he understands that the door will be completely closed if he uses nuclear weapons," Zelenskyy said.  

"And he loves life, so he didn't use nuclear weapons in the first year [of the full-scale war], so he continues his actions, and there are sanctions. [And now, Western] leaders are starting to think [about how to avoid possible risks of escalation of war with Russia]. But what could be a bigger escalation than massacres in Ukraine?" he added.

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