Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Vladimir Putin on Friday of trying to “manipulate” Donald Trump, after the strong man of the Kremlin welcomed the return to power of the republican billionaire in the White House and said he was ready to Meet to negotiate on Ukraine.
kyiv had previously warned against any negotiations not involving Ukraine itself and the Westerners.
“He wants to manipulate the desire of the President of the United States of America to reach peace,” said Volodymyr Zelensky in his daily message on social networks.
According to the Ukrainian president, Vladimir Putin, who launched his massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is actually ready to continue the war and “manipulate international leaders”.
“I am convinced that no Russian manipulation can now succeed,” he added.
Moscow, kyiv and their allies watch for the unpredictable tenant of the White House on the Ukrainian conflict, to which he has repeatedly claimed to end without ever explaining his intentions.
A conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, discussed for a long time but not yet materialized, is perceived as an important step. For the past week, both the Kremlin and the White House have been wanting to want this dialogue.
The American president “said that he was ready to work together,” Vladimir Putin was satisfied on Friday during an interview on state television.
“We have always said, and I want to emphasize it again, that we are ready for these negotiations on Ukrainian issues,” he added.
Earlier, spokesperson for the Russian presidency Dmitri Peskov had said to wait for “signals” from Washington on the subject. But it did not give any indication as to the calendar or the nature of these signals. President Trump told him on Thursday to be ready to meet Vladimir Putin “as soon as possible” or even “immediately”.
| © Pool/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin at Kremlin, January 17, 2025 in Moscow |
Denouncing “a ridiculous war”, he assured that the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was “ready to negotiate an agreement”.
Vladimir Putin assured him that the “crisis in Ukraine” of 2022, the year of the beginning of the conflict, could have been avoided if Donald Trump “had been president, if he had not been stolen from the victory in 2020”.
He thus resumed his account of the unfounded statements of the American president on alleged electoral fraud in 2020.
Not without Ukraine
In kyiv during the day, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Andriï Iermak had denounced the fact that the Russian president wanted to “negotiate the fate of Europe without Europe” and “speak of Ukraine without Ukraine” .
-| © AFP US President Donald Trump addresses the media in the White House Oval Office on January 23, 2025 in Washington |
Ukraine fears to be pushed to the negotiating table in an unfavorable position, because it is struggling on the front, and of being forced to give in its territories occupied by Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky, long hostile to any negotiation with Moscow, has recently mentioned this possibility but on the condition of solid security for his country on the part of Westerners.
The Kremlin, in substance, asks the surrender of Ukraine, which it renounces to join NATO and that Russia keeps the Ukrainian territories whose annexation it has claimed.
Oil and strikes
Thursday, during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Donald Trump called to reach Russia at the portfolio by lowering oil prices.
If these were lower “the war in Ukraine would be immediately finished,” he said.
Vladimir Putin, praising the “pragmatic” and “intelligent” character of Donald Trump on Saturday, said the latter would not make such a decision that would also harm the American economy “.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House occurs at a time when Russia is undoubtedly the advantage on the front.
| | © Ukrainian/AFP emergency services Photo ramaged by Ukrainian emergency services on January 24, 2025, rescuers on the site of a Russian missile strike in the kyiv region |
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday the capture of Tymofïvka, a small village in the Donetsk region (East).
Hundreds of kilometers from the front, Russian strikes killed three people in the kyiv region, according to a new assessment announced on Friday by the Ukrainian authorities.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Friday that it had shot down during the night 120 Ukrainian drones above 12 of its regions, including Moscow, one of the most important attacks of this type against its territory since the beginning of the conflict.
The Ukrainian army has claimed a nocturnal drone shot on a refinery in the Riazan region south of Moscow, as well as a microcomomposing factory used for the production of weapons in that of Britansk in the southwest of the Russian Capital .
