Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not sure if Vladimir Putin is still alive.
Asked when the latest peace negotiations amid the ongoing war in Ukraine will start, Zelensky said: “Today, I don’t quite understand who to speak with and about what. I’m not sure the president of Russia, who sometimes appears against a green screen, is the right one. I don’t quite understand if he is alive, if he is making the decisions, or who is making the decisions there.”
Zelensky, speaking at a breakfast event at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, said he didn’t know who they are dealing with.
“I do not quite understand how you can promise European leaders one thing, and the next day start a full-scale invasion of the state. I just don’t quite understand who we’re dealing with. When we say ‘peace talks’, I don’t quite understand with whom,” he further said, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
Russian leaders hit back, saying that Zelensky would prefer neither Russia nor Putin to exist.
“It is clear that both Russia and Putin are a big problem for Ukraine and for Zelensky. And it is clear that, purely psychologically, Mr Zelensky would prefer that neither Russia nor Putin exist. The sooner he realises that Russia exists and will exist, the better for such a country as Ukraine,” Fox News quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying.
Putin has avoided public events in recent weeks. Last month, he had cancelled his annual press conference.
