Zelenskyy: Putin is the obstacle to a peace deal

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday he hoped the current period of frantic diplomacy and high-stakes gambits between Russia and Ukraine would end with Donald Trump understanding that Vladimir Putin was the real obstacle to a peace deal.

- Shaun Walker

"Trump needs to believe that Putin actually lies. And we should do our part. Sensibly approach this issue, to show that it's not us that is slowing down the process," Zelenskyy told a small group of journalists, including the Guardian, in his office at the presidential administration in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said he would travel to Turkey tomorrow whether or not Vladimir Putin flew in for talks.

Ukraine's president said he had arranged to meet with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Ankara, but would be ready to fly to Istanbul at a moment's notice if the Russian leader showed up. "If Putin does not arrive and plays games, it is the final point that he does not want to end the war," he said yesterday.

Previously, after Putin had used an unexpected late-night Kremlin address to call for direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul, Zelenskyy responded by saying he would be waiting for Putin personally in Turkey on Thursday.

Trump, who is in Saudi Arabia, appeared to float the idea of a three-way meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy, saying on Monday: "I believe the two leaders are going to be there. I was thinking about flying over."

Zelenskyy said he was hoping Trump would indeed meet him in Turkey. "If Trump travels, it will push Putin also to travel," he said. "Trump can really help. It's the situation where the US being present can give important guarantees."