Ukraine’s Zelensky says Russia trying to ‘wriggle out’ of peace talks
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Law enforcement personnel watching smoke rising over a US-owned business in Ukraine's Zakarpattia region, after it was hit by Russian missiles on Aug 21.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
- Zelensky will meet Putin only after Ukraine receives security guarantees from allies to deter future Russian attacks post-war.
- Russia accuses Ukraine of unrealistic demands for long-term peace, claims Kyiv seeks security guarantees incompatible with settlements.
- Ukraine tested "Flamingo," a 3,000km-range cruise missile, mass production possible by February, as Russia gains territory.
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KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow on Aug 21 of shirking a meeting between him and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, despite US-led attempts to arrange a summit to end the war.
US President Donald Trump is trying to end Russia’s 3½-year-old invasion of Ukraine by bringing both Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin to the negotiating table.
But despite high-profile talks with Mr Putin in Alaska last week and separate meetings with Mr Zelensky and European leaders in Washington on Aug 18, there has been little tangible progress towards a peace deal.
Mr Zelensky said Russia was “trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting”.
“Frankly speaking, the signals coming from Russia are simply outrageous... They don’t want to end this war,” the Ukrainian leader said during an evening address. “They continue their massive attacks on Ukraine and their ferocious assaults along the front line.”
Mr Zelensky has signalled willingness to meet Mr Putin, but only after his allies agree on security guarantees for Ukraine to deter future Russian attacks once the fighting stops.
He has also said any meeting should take place in a “neutral” European country – ruling out a summit in Moscow – and rejected the idea of China helping to guarantee Ukrainian security.
Russia, meanwhile, said Ukraine did not appear to be interested in “long-term” peace, accusing Kyiv of seeking security guarantees completely incompatible with Moscow’s demands
Mr Trump has set a two-week timeframe for assessing the chances of a peace agreement, telling right-wing media outlet Newsmax that Washington would “have to maybe take a different tack” if the talks fell through.
Fresh Russian barrage
Mr Zelensky also warned that both Moscow and Kyiv were preparing for further fighting. He said Russia was building up troops on the southern front line and Ukraine had successfully tested a long-range cruise missile. The missile, known as Flamingo, can strike targets as far as 3,000km away and could be in mass production by February, he added.
Mr Zelensky’s comments came after Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles
Russian missiles also targeted an American-owned factory complex in the town of Mukachevo in the west of Ukraine, wounding 23 people, the head of the regional military administration said.
The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Mr Andy Hunder, said Moscow aimed to “destroy and humiliate” US businesses in the country.
Mr Zelensky called the attack “a deliberate strike specifically on American-owned property”.
A later shelling of the city of Kherson killed one person and wounded more than a dozen, a local official said.
And in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, two people were killed and at least 21 wounded after Ukrainian shelling, said the Russian-installed regional chief, Mr Denis Pushilin.
Russia claims advances
On the front line, Russia said it had captured the village of Oleksandro-Shultyne in the eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a long string of territorial gains. The village lies less than 8km from Kostiantynivka, a fortified town in the Donetsk region that Russia has been pressing towards on both sides.
France condemned the overnight strikes as showing Moscow’s “lack of will to seriously engage in peace talks”.
A group of allies led by Britain and France are putting together a military coalition
Mr Zelensky said Kyiv hoped to “have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days”, in comments to reporters released for publication on Aug 21.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of making unrealistic security demands. Any deployment of European troops to the country would be “absolutely unacceptable”, he said, accusing Ukrainian officials of showing no interest in a “sustainable, fair, long-term settlement”.
Russian forces have been slowly but steadily gaining ground in recent months. Mr Zelensky said Russia was building up troops along the front in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow claims as its own – along with four other Ukrainian regions. AFP
