Ukrainian President Hits Out As Fresh Peace Talks Loom

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fumed at the idea of handing more territory to Russia in an angry social media post and called for the west to expel all Russians.

More peace negotiations are set to take place in Geneva this week but Moscow continues to drag its feet and stick to its maximalist demands.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the “main issue” to be discussed between diplomats from Ukraine, Russia and the US will be the matter of territory.

Despite already holding a fifth of Ukraine’s sovereign land, Russia wants Ukraine to give up the entirety of its Donbas region in the east as part of a peace deal.

Kyiv has repeatedly rejected this call and refuses to withdraw its troops, even though the US is pushing for a peace deal sooner rather than later.

In a series of posts on X, the Ukrainian president Zelenskyy said it was a “big mistake” to ever reward the aggressor.

Pointing to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and Vladimir Putin’s occupation of parts of Georgia and Chechnya, Zelenskyy said: “Many mistakes were made.

“That’s why now I don’t want to be the President who will repeat the mistakes made by my predecessors or other people.”

The president said: “I’m not just talking about Ukraine. I’m speaking about the leaders of different countries that allowed an aggressive country like Russia to come onto their territory.

“Because you can’t stop Putin with your kisses or flowers.

“I never did it and that’s why I don’t feel that it’s the right way.”

Zelenskyy said that even giving into that demand from Putin would enable him to rebuild his military at a time when he “is losing 30–35 thousand people per month now”.

Instead, he called for stricter sanctions on Russia and the expulsion of Russians from the US and Europe.

Zelenskyy said: “Total sanctions means total. President Trump took strong steps sanctioning Lukoil and Rosneft. We are thankful to him. He can sanction all of their energy, in particular nuclear energy. And it will be a powerful message to the Europeans.

“Europeans have done a lot. But they haven’t yet sanctioned Russian nuclear energy, Rosatom, the persons and their relatives, their children, who live off their money in Europe, in the United States, who pay with these profits for their education at European universities, who own real estate in the United States. A lot of real estate. They financially support children and relatives everywhere.”

Speaking directly to the Russians who still live in the US and Europe, he said: “Fuck away to Russia. Go home. You don’t respect anybody in the United States. You don’t respect the rules. You don’t respect democracy. You don’t respect Ukraine or Europe. Go home.”

Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump insists that both Ukraine and Russia “want to make a deal” – though he continues to baselessly accuse Kyiv of holding up the talks.