Zelensky rejects Putin’s ceasefire offer – saying he is on the ‘same path’ as ​​Hitler | World News

Mr. Zelenskyy says President Putin’s promises are empty and that he would not be content to claim only parts of Ukraine.

President Zelensky has rejected Vladimir Putin’s latest ceasefire offer as “nothing new” and compared it to Hitler’s promises before World War II.

The Russian leader on Friday set preconditions for an end to attacks against Ukraine and begin peace talks.

He said he would be ready to start negotiations “tomorrow” if Ukraine withdrew from the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

President Putin said Russia would “immediately, literally at the same minute” stop fighting and begin negotiating if Ukraine withdraws its forces and ends its NATO candidacy.

“We will do it immediately. Of course, we will guarantee the uninterrupted and safe withdrawal of Ukrainian forces,” he said.

Shades of Hitler

The president made the comments during a meeting with Russian Foreign Ministry officials, with the Ukrainian leader quick to say the offer was untrustworthy, while warning against ” Russian Nazism.

“There’s nothing new about this, it’s Putin,” he told Sky Italia.

“Putin keeps repeating that when he gets some of our territories – some that they have already occupied and some that are not yet occupied, in some of our regions – he says that after that he will will stop and there will be no “frozen war”.

President Zelensky said it was “exactly the sort of thing Hitler would say.”

“He said ‘give me part of the Czech Republic and the war will end’, but he was lying because after that came Poland; ‘give me part of Poland’, and then came the occupation of the whole of Europe..”

“This is Nazism and we cannot trust Putin because he is on the same path,” added the Ukrainian president.

He told Sky Italia that people should remember that Russia only claimed the Crimea and Donbass regions before the war, but has now expanded its land grab attempts.

Putin’s ‘peace’ offer

Mr. Zelensky said that at the time President Putin was making his “peace” offer, his country had been hit by about 31 drone and ballistic missile attacks.

The war began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The Kremlin’s hopes of a quick victory proved unfounded, but it now controls large swathes of the country’s east and southeast.

Learn more:
Putin knew that Ukraine would reject this offer: where will the escalation stop?

Ukraine also suffers seriously from a lack of weapons and ammunition. However, it is hoped that a $61 billion US arms program, agreed in April, will have a significant impact.

Mr Zelensky was speaking from the G7 meeting in southern Italy, which began on Thursday with a new show of support for Ukraine.

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President Biden also used the event to sign a 10-year security agreement between America and Ukraine.

‘Point of no return’

A peace summit involving more countries is taking place this weekend in Switzerland, based on a plan presented by President Zelensky in late 2022.

President Putin’s ceasefire ultimatum came as he also warned that the West was “close to the point of no return”, citing the US withdrawal from a nuclear treaty with the Russia in 2019.

“Washington has unilaterally withdrawn from several arms control treaties,” he said.

“The selfishness and arrogance of Western states have led to the current extremely dangerous situation. We have come unacceptably close to the point of no return.”