The Kremlin on Thursday confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “exists” after Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy appeared to question whether he was even “still alive” when pressed on when peace negotiations may start.
“This is not the cinema where you are waiting for a film to start,” he said Wednesday according to a live translation of his comments at the Davos World Economic Forum. “This is a big tragedy.”
“Negotiations itself is not about peace automatically,” he added.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, looks on as he meets soldiers at the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian invaders in Bakhmut, Ukraine, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022.
(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
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Zelenskyy not only pointed to previously failed diplomatic talks between Ukraine and Russia, but Moscow’s blatant lies to other world leaders in the lead up of the invasion.
The Ukrainian president also said that at this point he’s not sure who is making the decisions inside the Kremlin and questioned whether Putin was even still functioning as the president of Russia.
“I don’t understand that he’s still alive or that it is him particularly making decisions,” Zelenskyy said.
President Putin said on Jan. 18, 2023, he had “no doubt” Moscow would emerge victorious in Ukraine, despite military setbacks in the nearly year-long offensive.
(ILYA PITALEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
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It is unclear why Zelenskyy questioned whether Putin was still alive as he was seen Wednesday at a St. Petersburg World War II memorial.
Zelenskyy’s comments may have been a nod at how Putin has withdrawn from public events in recent weeks, including his annual press conference which lasted some four hours in 2021 but was canceled last month.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pushed back on any suggestion that Putin was no longer around and said, “It is clear that both Russia and Putin are a big problem for Ukraine and for Zelensky. And it is clear that, purely psychologically, Mr. Zelensky would prefer that neither Russia nor Putin exist.”
Ukrainian tankers carry out maintenance on their tanks on the Donbass frontline as military mobility continues within the Russian-Ukrainian war on Jan. 18, 2023.
(Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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“But the sooner the Ukrainian regime realizes that Russia and Putin exist and will exist, that, sooner or later it will still have to give up everything anti-Russian, the better for a country like Ukraine,” he added according to Russian media outlet RBC.
