President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want to end the war, and Putin “must be forced” through military means.
Zelensky said he relayed this message to French President Emmanuel Macron and US President-elect Donald Trump during their meeting in Paris.
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Trump earlier stated after the meeting that Zelensky is open to “make a deal and stop the madness.” While not disagreeing with Trump, Zelensky indicated that Putin is not truly open to making a deal.
“I emphasized to both President Macron and President Trump: first of all, you will see – Putin does not want this war to end. Therefore, he must be forced. It can only be forced if Ukraine is strong. A strong Ukraine before any diplomacy is strong on the battlefield,” Zelensky said in a Telegram announcement.
Zelensky also called for more Western long-range weapon deliveries in his announcement.
“This is a strong army, these are weapons packages, etc., these are long-range systems, of course, and ATACMS, and Taurus, and Storm Shadow, and SCALPS. We need all of this very, very badly. And yes, exclusively for strikes on military targets, we emphasize this,” he added.
Zelensky also divulged Kyiv’s estimations of Ukrainian casualties in a rare statement following the Paris meeting.
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