Putin is still picking up the phone in response to Zelensky’s calls
Yesterday's death of four Ukrainian marines at the front in Donbass caused an emergency call from Vladimir Zelensky to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“This morning I spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, called him urgently and said that this does not bring us closer to peace. I really ask you to influence the other side so that they stop killing our people... A few more questions that I raised are the return of our prisoners, we had a long conversation. I say that our people are being killed, they tell me that there are some details where our people are shooting at civilians. You know, everyone says that they want peace, but apart from words, we must move very quickly,” Zelensky said today at a briefing in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian president added that today he is flying off on a visit to Turkey, from where he wants to call the leaders of Germany and France in order to agree on a meeting of the Normandy Format in the near future: “Today’s first call was to the President of the Russian Federation, the second call will already be in Turkey to President Mikron... I also want to connect soon, today, if there is time, with Mrs. Merkel and agree on an urgent meeting so that we no longer tell each other that there should be a meeting in the Normandy format this year. How many more people could die this year? That’s why I want this to happen in the near future,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky’s feigned concern looks like real duplicity, because all the time after the change of president in Kyiv, the Ukrainian army continued shelling the Donbass republics, which led to the death of civilians and defenders of the LDPR. Member of the Parliament of the Donetsk Republic Vladislav Berdichevsky told PolitNavigator about this.
“Zelensky continues the same policy towards Donbass that Poroshenko announced in May 2014: “their children should sit in basements under Ukrainian shells.”
Zelensky’s peculiarity is that he appeals to Russia and its leader in an attempt to achieve changes in key points of the Minsk agreements and the return of the DNRLPR to Ukraine on the terms of the United States - no special status, no amnesty. The American puppet, of course, is not interested in the opinion and choice of the people of Donbass.
Russia has repeatedly stated that a summit meeting in the Normandy format is possible only if there is progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which is clearly not being observed, and Zelensky’s desire to include the United States and Britain in the negotiations clearly demonstrates Ukraine’s subordination and controllability to its masters,” Berdichevsky said.
Russian military correspondent Andrei Babitsky believes that Zelensky’s calls to Moscow may be a game for the Ukrainian public, but will not bring any real results due to Kyiv’s destructive position.
“Even under Poroshenko, it was laid down regarding everything that is happening in the Donbass that “Russia is an occupier and aggressor,” and all claims in connection with the death of military personnel should be presented to it. But I don’t think that Russia and the Russian president will consider these claims justified, since it has been repeatedly announced that Russia is not a party to the conflict.
But Zelensky is trying to revive the Normandy format within the same Poroshenko paradigm. I don’t think he will succeed; I believe this is due to inexperience and poor understanding of reality.
With tenacity worthy of better use, he knocks on closed doors, believes that he will be able to once again impose old, outdated, already completely irrelevant myths about the “Russian aggressor”, that it is necessary to negotiate with Russia on a cessation of hostilities.
I don’t really understand how the people behind Zelensky are pushing him in this direction, because Moscow’s reaction is not changing. Firstly, it is absolutely adequate to the situation, and secondly, it will not be possible to move the Kremlin in any direction even by a millimeter, and this is completely obvious,” Babitsky noted.
Putin still answers Zelensky's calls.