Ukrainian President explains why he refused peace talks with Russia

Ukrainian President Zelensky. Photo: AP

Commenting on President Vladimir Putin's remarks earlier this week that Russia and Ukraine could have ended the conflict in March if Kiev had not pulled out of the talks, Zelensky said that before Russia attacked Ukraine, he had been trying to talk to President Putin for a long time but the Russian leader was not interested in a phone call.

Five months into the fighting, Ukraine now believes all territory must be “liberated” before any talks can resume, Mr Zelensky said.

He also stressed that he wants to liberate the occupied territories by non-military means, but according to him, Russia will not understand anything until it is “punched in the face”. Moreover, he believes that there is another reason why negotiations are no longer effective: Russia will not stop occupying Ukrainian territory.

He said Russia would occupy two regions of Ukraine and then say to freeze the conflict.

“Then they take a break and two or three years later they take two more areas and say let’s freeze the conflict. And it just keeps going like that. 100% sure.”

Meanwhile, President Putin commented in March that Moscow and Kiev "have indeed reached an agreement and the only thing left is to sign it."

“To establish these conditions, our troops withdrew from the center of Ukraine, from Kiev, but the Ukrainian authorities refused to implement this agreement” and even now do not want to do so, the Russian president said.

Russia and Ukraine began talks four days after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in late February. The two sides held several rounds of face-to-face talks in Belarus and then continued online. Delegations from the two countries met again in Istanbul, Turkey, in late March, but the talks have completely stopped.