Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the Kremlin was not “serious” about negotiating efforts to end the war, and criticized Russian leader Vladimir Putin for living in an “alternative reality.”
Speaking through a translator, Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, who interviewed him from Davos, Switzerland, that his first optimism about the negotiations had stalled.
“I can’t see his will, nor can I see any practical aspects of what we’re talking about,” Zelensky said, adding that he wants to speak directly with Putin.
Putin, he said, must be “pushed into today’s reality: not to be in this bubble, this alternative reality of his that has been building for quite some time.”
The Kremlin leader “does not fully understand what is happening,” Zelensky said, adding that the war will not end until Putin sees the truth and leaves his “world of propaganda.”
“It simply came to our notice then [an] put an end to this war that he launched “.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is meeting with the Ukrainian military during a visit to the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on May 29. UKRAINE / EPA PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE Russian President Vladimir PutinGetty Images
The pessimistic statements came when Zelensky visited troops in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Sunday for the first time since the outbreak of war.
More coverage of the Ukrainian war
“I am just proud of our defenders. Every day, risking their lives, they fight for the freedom of Ukraine, “he wrote in the Telegram about his rare front-line journey.
The buildings are in ruins in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 29. PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE OF UKRAINE / EPA
Russian troops currently control about 30 percent of Kharkiv, with poor bombing, according to Ukrainian officials, and Zelensky said on Saturday that protecting the country’s eastern region remains “indescribably difficult.”
The countries at war took part in a hand-to-hand combat in Sievierodonetsk on Sunday as Russia redoubled its efforts to take the Donbas region.
City residents, who were left without water or cell service, risked being hit by bullets when they got water from wells, its mayor Oleksandr Striuk said.
Sievierodonetsk is the largest city in Ukraine in its Luhansk region, and its governor, Serhiy Gaidai, said on Sunday that fighting was so intense that he had no idea how many people died this weekend.
“The situation has increased a lot,” Gaidai said.
Zelensky said on Saturday that his country still needs more weapons to protect the region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Finnish Prime Minister Marin in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 26. PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE OF UKRAINE / EPA
“Every day we are working to strengthen our defenses. That means, in the first place, the supply of weapons, “he said in a speech.
With post cables