US wants to please Putin to ‘have a quick win’, says Ukraine’s Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast on Monday that the United States was trying to “please” Moscow in talks on Ukraine and warned of Europe’s military “weakness”.
Reacting to conciliatory comments towards Russia by US officials, Zelensky said: “The US is now saying things that are very favourable to Putin … because they want to please him.”
“They want to meet quickly and have a quick win. But what they want – ‘just a ceasefire’ – is not a win,” Zelensky said, according to a translation provided by broadcaster ARD of an interview recorded on Saturday in Munich, Germany.
On the contours of any future deal, Zelensky said “we will not sign just anything in order to be applauded” and stressed that “the fate of our state for generations to come” was at stake.
He rejected the idea of ceding Ukrainian territory that Russia has seized, saying: “We will reclaim it all.”