“We know some in the world want to talk to Putin,” Zelenskyy said. “To meet, to talk, to speak. But what could they possibly hear from him? That he’s upset because we are exercising our right to defend our people? Or that he wants to keep the war and terror going, just so no one thinks he was wrong?”
He added: “It’s insane.”
Zelenskyy later this week will travel to the White House to meet with Joe Biden and discuss his “victory plan” – a roadmap for Ukraine to end the war with greater western support. In his speech, he said that further pressure was needed to conclude a peace with Russia after it had been “doing things that cannot possibly be justified under the UN charter”.
“That’s why this war can’t be conquered by talks,” Zelenskyy said. “Action is needed … Putin has broken so many international laws and rules that he won’t stop. Russia can only be forced into peace, and that is exactly what’s needed, forcing Russia into peace as the soul aggressor in this war, the soul violator of the UN charter.”
In an interview that aired on ABC on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed greater support from the west to win the war, but conceded that the time for negotiations was nearing.
He has repeatedly called on the US and UK to drop their restrictions on the use of long-range missiles against targets deep inside Russia, despite concerns in the Biden administration that those attacks could lead to further