Zelenskyy: Putin wants to go to other territories, and he can do that without ending war in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he believes, just as he did a year ago, that Russian ruler Vladimir Putin wants to continue fighting and attacking new territories, and he does not need to end the war against Ukraine in order to do that. Zelenskyy noted that Russia’s recent incursions into European countries’ airspace are indicative of such intentions.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Fox News

Quote from Zelenskyy: "I think he [Putin] wants it. He wants to go to other territories. As I said to my colleagues one year ago, ‘Look, don’t wait when he finishes the war in Ukraine, and he will continue somewhere.’ He can continue somewhere, not finishing the war in Ukraine. Because he understands that he needs it for his war machine, for his factories, for his close circle of businessmen who are in the defence military sector and have big money – he wants to show that they will continue."

Details: The president added that this is the reason why Putin has put off holding any meetings or peace talks with Kyiv.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "He [Putin] is afraid of such a meeting. He is not afraid of me, I mean, he is afraid of such a meeting because he has to have some outcome. But his outcome for today is to continue the war. Of course, he said to President Trump – and I think sometimes when they have conversations, Russian teams and American teams – they say that they want peace, but it’s not true. [...] So, what is Putin doing today? First of all, this is a signal for NATO. He wants to feel how they can defend their countries, and he feels that they can’t."

More details: Zelenskyy said Putin can see that NATO has "not enough air defence, they are not well-trained".

"It’s understandable. They [NATO forces] are very good professional guys, but they don’t have war. Russia has been in this war for more than 10 years," he summed up. 

Zelenskyy also believes that US President Donald Trump has not put enough pressure on Putin because he has been trying not to close off diplomatic possibilities for negotiations with Putin.

"He [Trump] did not pressure him [Putin] before [the Alaska meeting], he wanted to really have negotiations, to really have a trilateral meeting between us. But Putin is Putin. As always, he just, I think, used this situation. He got images with Trump, he sold it to his audience – Russian society – ‘You see, I shake hands with the United States. It means that we can continue!’" Zelenskyy said.

Background:

• On the night of 9-10 September, Poland confirmed that Russian drones had violated its airspace during a large-scale attack on Ukraine and, for the first time, chose to shoot them down. The Polish military also warned residents of heightened threats in the Mazovian, Podlaskie and Lublin voivodeships.
• Polish authorities reported that several drones had been shot down, calling it a response to the act of aggression and citing the threat to citizens’ safety.
• On 19 September, Russian fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace over the Gulf of Finland, remaining there for a total of 12 minutes. NATO reported that the aircraft had been intercepted.
• On 23 September, the North Atlantic Council met at Estonia's request under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty to discuss Russia's dangerous violation of the country's airspace on 19 September.
• During a UN Security Council meeting convened in response to the incident in Estonia, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that NATO is ready to respond to violations of its airspace by Russian military aircraft.
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on NATO to take more decisive action in response to Russia's violation of its airspace, going as far as to neutralise hostile targets.
• Czech President Petr Pavel had said earlier that he believes NATO should respond militarily to Russia's violations.

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