Vladimir Putin says it is possible to negotiate with Ukraine, but not with Volodimir Zelenski: Why?

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, He said Tuesday that his country could hold peace conversations with Ukraine, but ruled out talking directly to the president Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he described as “illegitimate.”

The Ukrainian leader responded by saying that Putin was “afraid” of negotiations and was using “cynical tricks” to prolong the conflict of almost three years.

The president of the United States,
Donald Trump, He has pressed both parties to put an end to the fighting since he assumed the position on January 20, threatening more hard sanctions against Russia and affirming that Zelensky You are ready to negotiate an “agreement.”

“Yes (Zelensky) wants to participate in the negotiations, I will assign people to participate,” Putin said, qualifying the Ukrainian leader as “illegitimate” because his presidential mandate expired during the martial law.

“If there is the desire to negotiate and reach a commitment, that anyone directs the negotiations … naturally, we will fight for what it suits us, which corresponds to our interests,” he added.

Zelensky He affirmed that there was the possibility of achieving a “real peace”, but that the head of the Kremlin I was frustrating efforts to stop fighting.

“Today Putin once again confirmed that he is afraid of negotiations, fear of strong leaders and does everything possible to prolong war,” he wrote Zensky and X.

kyiv has warned of his exclusion from any peace conversation between Russia and the United States, accusing Putin of wanting to “manipulate” Trump.

Everything would end in two months: Putín

Putin He also said that the fighting would end in two months or less if the West cut their support for kyiv.

“They will not exist for a month if the money ends and, in a broad sense, the bullets. Everything will end in a month and a half or two,” Putin said in statements to a state television journalist.

The conflict has not shown signs of decreasing despite the Trump promise to promulgate a quick fire once in office.

The Russian army said on Tuesday that their forces had captured a large village in the Kharkiv region, in the northeastern Ukraine, The last territorial gain for the troops of Moscow in advance.

The Russian Defense Ministry said their forces had “released” the Village of Dvorichna, which before the conflict had a population of more than 3,000 inhabitants.

The village, located on the other side of the Strategic Oskil River, was taken by Moscow at the beginning of its large -scale military offensive in 2022, before being retaken by Kiev Months later in a rapid counteroffensive.

Bloggers Ukrainian military, With links with the Ministry of Defense, They also said that the Russian forces were moving along the flanks of Chaasiv yar, A strategic city at the top of a hill that housed some 12,000 people before the conflict.

The army of Ukraine It has been rejected during the last year, surpassed in armament and number by the Russian troops along the 1,000 -kilometer front line (600 miles).

The Ukraine government dismissed a Deputy Minister of Defense in charge of the purchase of weapons, after the Minister of Defense accused him of having “failed” in guaranteeing the “timely supply of ammunition” to the soldiers.