President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was skeptical of French leader Emmanuel Macron's initiative to reach a truce in Ukraine during the Olympic Games in Paris.
Zelenskyy does not believe in a temporary truce with Russia
Macron said in a recent statement that he intends to work on reaching an agreement on a temporary cessation of hostilities in the war launched by Russia against Ukraine and the Middle East in time for the Olympic Games in Paris.
In his opinion, this corresponds to one of the Olympics' key goals — strengthening peace through sports.
However, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that he does not believe in the possibility of reaching such agreements.
I do not believe in this with Russia. I do not believe in this format of the truce in general, I do not believe in any format of the truce with the Russian Federation. Emmanuel knows this, he himself is a witness of this, we were together in the Normandy format. We went through this entire Minsk process together. France, Germany, Ukraine — we are all living witnesses, not from books, but we are living witnesses that there is no frozen conflict with Russia. This is a matter for Russia to regroup and give them even more power to destroy us later. We went through it, Zelenskyy emphasised.
The head of state recalled that a similar situation had already existed after signing the Minsk agreements.
Then, there were also agreements regarding the cease-fire period. However, even then, some people shot at the Ukrainian military.
They trained their snipers who passed by and killed our people every day. That's all there is to the evidence. Emmanuel knows all this. They just went out hunting. We heard all this from the telephone intercepts that were from our intelligence. A group of 20-30 specialists came to them and killed our people every day for several months in a row, even though there was a cease-fire. Sniper shots. That is, for Putin, there is no truce, no Olympics, no authorities, — explains Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy comments on the protection of Israel by Western countries from Iranian attack
The head of state emphasised that with the beginning of the crisis in the Middle East, all Western politicians and media turned their attention away from Ukraine.
Let's be honest, today it mostly looks at what is happening in Israel, Gaza, the Middle East in general, Zelenskyy emphasised.
The President emphasised that amid the crisis in the Middle East and the open confrontation between Israel and Iran, the world began to pay much less attention to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy explained that if society reacts less, then political leaders have less responsibility; therefore, there may be less aid.
Well, to be honest, I am so shocked by what happened after Iran struck Israel. I am shocked how the allies worked. At first it was a very positive reaction, the head of state admits.
The President also emphasised that as a result of Iran's attack on Israel, unfortunately, there were no casualties, but their number is small, and this deserves sympathy in any case.
At the same time, the head of state emphasised that the allies came to the aid of Israel, although it is not a member of NATO.
Zelenskyy also stated that he had not seen a very serious and powerful document between France and Israel, such as between the US and Israel, or a similar document between Israel and NATO.
That is, we simply saw how the armies, pilots and weapons of several allied states destroyed 99% of everything that flew at the heads of the Israelis from Iran. This is what we saw with you. And why I was in shock, namely: what is wrong with us? What is wrong with Ukrainians? — asks the president.
