“In the interests of Ukrainian citizens, Zelensky should seek any possibility to hold negotiations. But instead, he looks for excuses,” the deputy noted on the Telegram social network.

Volodin considered that Zelensky is committing a crime before the people of Ukraine and the international community.

The Ukrainian president rejected the most recent option of dialogue between delegations from Moscow and Kiev, which was to be held this Sunday in the Belarusian city of Gomel, after rejecting the initial proposal of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, before it was held in Minsk.

This morning, Zelensky demanded that the meeting at the level of ministerial delegations be held at a “neutral” venue and cited Baku, Istanbul, Warsaw or Vienna as new proposals.

The Ukrainian president’s spokesman, Sergey Nikiforov, noted that his government insists that the negotiations be held elsewhere and rejects any conditions from Moscow to start the talks.

He stressed that “Ukraine is ready to negotiate, but it is not ready to listen to any preconditions,” which, he said “also applies to the venue.”

Zelensky asked Russia to sit down at the negotiating table after the start of the military operation implemented by Moscow since February 24 with the aim of protecting the population of Donbass, as well as “demilitarizing and denazifying” Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

etc/oda/mml