Ukrainian journalist: 'Mr. Zelenskiy's policy is beneficial to his counterpart Putin'

Earlier, when reading a message before the Rada (Ukrainian Parliament), the Ukrainian leader said that he was not afraid of direct dialogue with Russia.

Journalist Portnikov commented: "Why Mr. Zelenskiy did that, I don't even want to discuss that. An uneducated head of state, even when he stops being President of Ukraine, he will not understand what he has to do in this position."

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy (far left), French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AP

According to the journalist, direct negotiations between President Putin and his counterpart Zelenskiy are of no use, because the Russian President has no plans to discuss the conflict in the Crimean Peninsula and the Donbass region with Mr. Zelenskiy. It seems that the person Mr. Putin wants to discuss the Ukrainian issue with is not President Zelenskiy but US President Joe Biden.

"The problem is that irresponsibly speaking about these negotiations to the applause of the president's fanatical admirers is a direct path to further destabilization of the country, to the easier seizure of Mariupol, Kharkov, Odessa by Putin. In this context, President Zelenskiy looks like a tool in Putin's skillful hands. I wish I were blind," Portnikov concluded.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that so far there has been no progress in preparing for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents. According to Mr. Peskov, one of the main obstacles to such a meeting is Kiev's failure to fulfill its commitments under the Minsk agreements.

President Putin himself said in a direct conversation last June that he had nothing to talk about with Mr. Zelenskiy, after he "put his country under complete external control." At the same time, the Russian leader added that he did not refuse meetings, but "first we must understand what we are talking about"./.