Zelensky says Putin again vowed to seize Donetsk, calls it 17th or 18th such promise
Ukraine's president says Putin made the pledge to American representatives, hours after Rubio met Lavrov in New York over a possible ceasefire
Published
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky says Vladimir Putin recently told representatives of the American president that Russia would seize the Donetsk region within a few more months. Zelensky said this was probably the 17th or 18th time in five years that Putin has made the same promise.
The claim surfaces the same day Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York at 9am Eastern to discuss a possible ceasefire. Rubio said afterward that both Russia and Ukraine want a ceasefire covering grain and energy infrastructure.
The Kremlin has said conditions for peace talks with Ukraine are not yet ready, and that Zelensky could visit Russia only after key decisions are made. Putin himself has told servicemen that Russia's military goals in Ukraine will be achieved.
Zelensky warned on Tuesday that Russia is preparing a large-scale attack on Ukraine. France's foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said the same day that Russia is attacking the whole of Europe. Zelensky's description of Putin's promise as a habitual, hollow one points to little near-term prospect of Russian territorial gains, and it undercuts confidence in the diplomatic contacts between Washington and Moscow. Set against a summer in which Russian forces failed to achieve major battlefield gains and Russia's budget has come under strain, the account points to a war that remains stalled rather than moving toward any resolution.