Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with Czech television on Tuesday that negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are impossible as long as Moscow keeps firing missiles into Ukraine.
"You don't have time for this diplomacy because they lie. It's not diplomacy. They lie, you know, they want to find 'diplomatic directions' to stop the war. It's lying. Yesterday they said, 'we are ready, Ukraine is not ready. And today they attacked us by fifty-four rockets. What? They are crazy," Zelenskyy said.
Putin launched his unprovoked and illegal "special military operation" on February 24th. But the invasion has turned into a quagmire for Russia, whose forces were ill-equipped and unprepared to take on the Ukrainians, whom the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization have provided material support.
Tens of thousands of Putin's troops have been captured or killed, and Putin has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons – and baselessly accused Ukraine of planning a false-flag operation to detonate a radiological bomb that it would then blame on Russia – to blackmail the West into cutting off aid. That bluster has not worked. Meanwhile, Russia has also targeted civilians and infrastructure in what has devolved into an attritional campaign of terror. Thousands of Ukrainians have lost their lives, and many of those who have perished are believed to be victims of war crimes at the hands of the Russians.
Zelenskyy blasted the Kremlin for claiming that it wants peace while it continues the relentless destruction of Ukraine.
"So they are ill – I can't understand – on their head. So what are they speaking about? How can we speak if they attacked us with fifty-four rockets? This day – half of the day. What about are they speaking now? I think they live on another planet," he added. "It's not about compromise or no compromise, of course, only victory."
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