has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of attempting to “manipulate” new in order to bring about an end to the war on his terms and without input from Ukraine or Europe.
“[Putin] wants to decide Europe’s fate without Europe and he seeks to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine,” said Andriy Yermak, the head of the Presidential Office in Kyiv, warning that was trying to promote bilateral negotiations with the United States over .
Later, reporting from a briefing with security service chiefs, Ukrainian President warned of “Putin’s readiness to continue the war and manipulate world leaders.”
“He wants to manipulate the desire of the President of the to achieve peace,” Zelenskyy said during his daily evening address on social media, but added that he was “confident that no Russian manipulations will succeed anymore.”
Putin: ‘We are ready for these negotiations’
The comments out of Kyiv came after Putin had signaled earlier on Friday that he was open to discussing an end to his invasion of Ukraine with Trump.
“It is probably better for us to meet and, based on today’s realities, talk calmly about all areas that are of interest to both the US and Russia,” he told Russian state television, claiming: “We have always said, and I want to emphasize this once again, that we are ready for these negotiations on Ukrainian issues.”
During his reelection campaign, Trump promised that he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of returning to the White House, boasting of his good relationship with Putin.
Speaking to reporters just a few hours after his inauguration on Monday, Trump said he was eager to talk to his Russian counterpart, only to threaten Russia on Wednesday with more “taxes, tariffs and sanctions” if Putin did not end his “ridiculous war” soon.
Putin, meanwhile, repeated Trump’s unfounded claim that he actually won the against Joe Biden.
Praising Trump as a “smart” and “pragmatic” leader, he said: “I cannot but agree with him that if he had been president – if his victory hadn’t been stolen in 2020 — then maybe there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that emerged in 2022.”
mf/wd (Reuters, dpa)
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