Zelenskyy on negotiations with Russia in the first days of the war: they wanted to put Medvedchuk in office and take Donbas

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Davos/ Photo: REUTERS

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia wanted to replace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with former MP and traitor Viktor Medvedchuk. They also demanded that Ukraine recognise that the entire Donbas is Russia.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this in Davos with representatives of the International Media Council.

«Some people came in the first days of the occupation — some from Ukraine — they came with some papers and handed me an ultimatum from Putin. They said: «We are negotiators, we are between Ukraine and Russia». It was the same list with some changes as in Turkey. I'll tell you what it was like. They said I had to step down, they would replace me with the pro-Russian Medvedchuk. So I am no longer president. This is the first thing. It's not a problem for me, our people will vote», the head of state said.

Advertising

According to him, the Russians demanded:

• to recognise the entire Donbas as part of Russia;
• the official status of the Russian language;
• to amend the Constitution of Ukraine to give the country a neutral status;
• reduce the Ukrainian army to 50,000 people;
• destruction or transfer to Russia of all weapons within 20 km of the front line.

«Therefore, there have never been any negotiations, this is an ultimatum from a murderer. His name is Putin. And he put it forward. Then, when I sent these people to my office, because they are just separatists, that's all. After that, many weeks later, we defended the capital, we pushed the Russians back and so on. And all this time they had meetings with some of our people», the President of Ukraine said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that Belarus «wanted to organise something, to negotiate something, but they again issued an ultimatum».

«Then they wanted to organise something in Turkey, and President Erdogan asked me: «Please, they should sit down to talk». I said: «Okay, if you want, they will talk». They came and gave an ultimatum again. So, we cannot say that we had any negotiations, because all three times there were ultimatums from Putin», Zelenskyy said.

As you know, after his inauguration, US President Donald Trump said that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was ready for a deal to end the war.

After that, President Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is committed to ending the war this year, but that the main priority remains to achieve a just and lasting peace.