‘A deal with Putin is an illusion’: Ukrainian officials warn Russia making ‘mockery’ of ceasefire talks
It is harder to deal with Vladimir Putin than a gangster and he cannot be trusted to uphold any ceasefire, Ukrainian officials have said. They also accused the Russian leader of making a mockery of Donald Trump’s efforts for a peace deal.
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of flouting a truce on energy strikes brokered by the United States last week, and conditions set by the Kremlin have cast a shadow over a planned ceasefire in the Black Sea announced on Tuesday.
Three days of talks culminated in an agreement to “eliminate the use of force” in the Black Sea and to continue working towards a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure in Russia and Ukraine. But hours after the latest agreement, Russia launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv, which provides the country with access to the Black Sea.
The mayor of Mykolaiv said there were emergency power outages early on Wednesday in the city, following a report by the region’s governor that seven drones were destroyed overnight.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the US told Kyiv the Black Sea deal was effective as soon as it was announced. But the Kremlin said the Black Sea deal would not enter force until a sanctioned Russian state bank was reconnected to the international payment system, a step that Europe said would not happen until Russia withdraws its troops from Ukraine.
The Kremlin also contends it has already been implementing a pause on energy attacks since 18 March, but Kyiv says eight energy facilities have been attacked with drones and missiles since then. And Ukrainian officials say they don’t believe such deals can be effective – or a broader ceasefire – if Mr Putin needs to be trusted to implement them.
Oleksandr Merezhko, an MP who chairs the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign policy committee, told The Independent that dealing with Mr Putin is “worse than dealing with gangsters” because “you can never trust, you can never rely [on him]”.
“It’s an illusion to believe you can make a deal with Putin [which will] be followed conscientiously by Putin. It’s a total illusion,” Mr Merezhko said.
“Trump should understand that on Putin’s part, it’s a mockery. It’s a mockery, all this negotiation process. When Trump realises this, maybe he will change his attitude towards Putin.”
Mr Zelensky, sharing footage of the aftermath of a 117-drone attack by Russian forces, which also hit the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, said the strikes were a “clear signal to the whole world that Moscow is not going to pursue real peace”.
In an X post which called on the US to impose sanctions on Russia due to the continued attacks, Mr Zelensky said: “Literally every night, through its attacks, Russia keeps saying ‘no’ to our partners’ peace proposal.”
Meanwhile, the Kremlin hailed the 12-hour Russia-US talks on Tuesday, held in Saudi Arabia’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, “We are satisfied with how pragmatically and constructively our dialogue is developing and by how it is yielding results,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
But Mr Peskov added that the Black Sea ceasefire can only be activated “after a number of conditions are implemented”, demanding the lifting of sanctions particularly on Russian food and fertiliser exports. Kyiv has said it is ready to implement it effective immediately.
Mr Merezhko, 54, who is a member of Mr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party and has served in the president’s team, said that Mr Putin will “never” abide by a ceasefire regardless of the deals that are made.
