Zelensky Says Putin “Peace” Comments Not To Be Trusted

Kyiv:

Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky warned on Thursday against trusting Vladimir Putin. President Donald Trump claimed he believes that Russian leaders “want peace.”

Trump's shocking statement that he wanted to start talks with Putin to surprise Ukraine and European allies – many of whom questioned his strategy and made sure that Washington hatched the deal without them I warned him.

Meeting NATO partners, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses, denying Putin and Trump's 90-minute call on Wednesday, marked a betrayal of Kiev's nearly three years of war effort.

Zelensky, who will meet US Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, said it was “not very comfortable” to call Putin before Trump told him.

In a social media post after speaking with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tassky, Zelensky “warned world leaders against trusting Putin's claim that he was ready to end the war.”

The Ukrainian leader said he wanted the US to agree to a “plan to stop Putin” before negotiations.

The US president said he hopes to meet Saudi Arabia's Russian leader in a “not too distant future.”

But Trump on Thursday claimed that Ukraine would become “part of the negotiations,” and he claimed he was convinced that Putin “wanted peace.”

“I think he'd tell me if he didn't,” he added.

– 'in any case' –

The Kremlin said Kiev would be involved in the talks “in some way,” but it also said there would be a “bilateral Russian-American trajectory.”

European supporters in Ukraine have rejected the move to force a reconciliation in Kiev.

German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz rejected “settled peace,” claiming that “Russia's victory or the collapse of Ukraine will not lead to peace.”

“This will put peace and stability in Europe far beyond Ukraine,” he said.

EU diplomat Kaha Karas accused Russia of “softening” and thus argued that the “behind our back” deal would not work.

“We shouldn't remove anything from the table before negotiations begin, to play in the Russian courts. That's what they want,” she said.

“A simple fix is ​​a dirty deal,” she said.

It came after Trump's administration poured cold water on Ukrainian's goal of regaining all territory and promoting participation in NATO.

Hegseth said Europe must start offering Ukraine a “overwhelming share” of aid, and the US will not deploy its troops in any transaction.

“There is no betrayal there. There is a perception that the whole world and the United States are invested and interested in peace,” the Pentagon chief told NATO.

“It would require both sides to recognize what they don't want.”

He denied Trump's giving up leverage on Putin, saying that Russian leaders and Zelensky will be involved in the negotiations.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told Kyiv's NATO supporters, “We're continuing, we're strong, we're capable, we can deliver.”

Zelensky's meeting with Vance in Munich will be the latest in high-level European encounters for Trump's top officials.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent held talks in Kiev on Wednesday after Washington granted Washington access to Ukrainian rare earth deposits in return for security support.

In a radio interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, he said he hopes Ukraine will sign a mineral access transaction that will repay “the billions of US taxpayers spent there.”

– Kursk's loss –

Trump's outreach to Putin was widely expected, but the fast pace of his peace push erupted his head after three years of stubborn Western support for Ukraine.

Trump proposed “love” Russia to welcome the G7, which was suspended in 2014 after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea.

“I think it was a mistake to abandon him,” Trump said, referring to Putin.

Kiev's European supporters fear Trump could push Ukraine into a peace deal.

French Minister Sebastian Lecorne said he was worried that Paris had hoped that Russia had “give up everything”;

Hegseth said European troops could provide security assurances to Ukraine under the deal – and his British man John Healy said the plan was “accelerating” in that respect.

Zelensky increased the possibility that Kiev would exchange Russian territory that he holds to occupy the Ukrainian land of Moscow.

However, Ukrainian grip against the Russian Kursk region has slipped – Kiev says it holds just one-third of the area it filmed last year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published by Syndicate Feed.)