A video recording has been published on Zelensky's Facebook.
Following the ultimatum from American President Donald Trump, the illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on January 24 that he is allegedly ready for negotiations "on the Ukrainian issue". Putin expressed his discontent regarding the existing ban in Ukraine on negotiations with him, stating that "if negotiations begin, they will be illegitimate." He pointed out that "as long as this decree is not lifted, it is quite difficult to talk about the possibility of starting and, most importantly, properly concluding these negotiations."
"There are many signals being spread by the Russians regarding some 'decrees,' as they call them. They are living in some sort of 1917. 'Decree on Peace,' decree on something else," Zelensky reacted.
According to him, the decision by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) regarding the impossibility of negotiations with Putin was forced, as he "started building various channels alongside the separatists, together with representatives from other states to influence Ukraine," its independence, and directly the Ukrainian president.
"There were many negotiation processes, many shadow political corridors. I put a stop to it. Quickly. I simply halted separatism in our state by stopping any representatives, political figures in Ukraine from conducting negotiations with the Russian side, with Putin's supporters during the war. This was when their troops were here in the Kyiv region. They tried to exert pressure through various channels, including the parliamentary corps, the European parliamentary corps, and the U.S. There were many different negotiation platforms. I just realized that we and our relevant authorities could not control this," Zelensky noted.
He emphasized that he understands that this "does not please Putin, because he had many channels."
"There are channels that everyone knows about, because the relevant individuals were arrested, and then we exchanged them for our soldiers. They also used other channels, even in some of our institutions, which I am not yet publicly ready to discuss. Therefore, the decision was made accordingly," Zelensky concluded.