Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday warned that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin wanted to “manipulate” Donald Trump, after the Kremlin chief praised the U.S. leader and said he was ready for talks with him.
Kyiv earlier warned against any Putin-Trump peace talks on the near three-year war without its and European participation.
“He wants to manipulate the desire of the President of the United States of America to achieve peace,” Zelensky said during a daily evening address on social media. “I am confident that no Russian manipulations will succeed anymore.”
He said Putin, who launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, was ready to continue the war and “manipulate the leaders of the world.”
Putin had earlier praised Trump as a “smart” leader who might have prevented the conflict from starting.
The headline hear makes it sound like Zelensky is insisting that the EU has to be part of the Russian/Ukraine peace talks. But the linked article doesn’t say that.