Zelensky: Putin Does Not Want Peace

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not seeking negotiations in any way and does not want to end the war, while simultaneously warning that Ukraine cannot accept the agreement reached between Washington and Moscow on diesel fuel because accepting it could open the door to a broader gas deal that would benefit Russia strategically.

"Putin is not seeking negotiations at all and does not want to end the war," Zelensky said in his statement, delivering the starkest Ukrainian assessment yet of Russian intentions as the conflict in Ukraine enters its fifth year.

On the Washington-Moscow fuel agreement, Zelensky was categorical. "We cannot accept the agreement between Washington and Moscow on diesel, because agreeing to it may pave the way for an agreement on gas," he said, framing Ukraine's rejection not as opposition to the specific fuel deal but as resistance to the broader normalization of energy trade between Russia and the West that such agreements represent.

On the question of Starlink, Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine has taken no decision to replace the SpaceX satellite communication service and denied that Ukrainian forces are using Starlink to target Russian territory. "We have not made a decision to replace the Starlink service and we do not use it to target Russian territory," he said.

Zelensky's triple-statement comes at a moment of significant diplomatic complexity for Ukraine. The Trump administration has been engaged in active diplomacy with Moscow through envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and the Washington-Moscow diesel agreement reflects a degree of bilateral economic engagement between the two countries that Ukraine views as a precedent for deeper normalization that could undermine Kyiv's negotiating position. Ukraine's inability to veto American foreign policy decisions means its only tool for resisting such normalization is public political pressure, which Zelensky is applying directly and explicitly.

The assertion that Putin does not want to end the war directly contradicts the framing that Moscow and some American officials have used throughout the Witkoff-Kushner diplomatic engagement, in which Russia has been presented as a willing participant in peace negotiations. Zelensky's declaration places Ukraine's position on record before any further diplomatic movement between Washington and Moscow produces facts on the ground that Kyiv would find difficult to reverse.