Zelensky on so-called “Istanbul agreements”: These are Putin's senile fantasies

The Head of State said this during a press conference in Brussels, answering the question of whether Ukraine is ready to negotiate with Russia on the basis of the so-called “Istanbul agreements,” an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“In general, I am surprised by his statement that he [Putin] is ready for something, he constantly says that I am illegitimate... The ultimatum contained, and they always talk about it, 'demilitarization' and 'denazification'... The main Nazi on the planet today, Putin, is talking about denazification of Ukrainians... Demilitarization, so that there would be no army in Ukraine, or something like that, I don't remember... they talked about 40-50,000…. He simply offered Ukraine to surrender, freeze the conflict, change the direction of development-neither Europe nor NATO, but the direction to the Russian Federation, so that they could rule our state, deprive us of our independence. And this person says that these are some kind of agreements...  He is just an old fantasist. He lives in another world, in his own aquarium,” Zelensky said.

He reminded that the so-called Istanbul agreements had never existed. In 2022, in the first days of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, there was an ultimatum. Then, using different sources, different people, Russia detailed this ultimatum.

“Their 'messengers' in different directions, using different sources, showed us the details of this ultimatum. These messengers are not in Ukraine, they have already fled to Russia or abroad. In any case, Ukraine did not agree to the Russian ultimatum. They tried to take the following steps: somewhere they softened their position on this ultimatum, these were meetings in Belarus and Turkey, and they called these meetings the “Istanbul agreements.” Ukraine did not sign anything, there were no agreements, it was a response to the Russian ultimatum,” Zelensky said.

As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is on a visit to Brussels. On Wednesday, he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, as well as leaders of several European countries and the European Commission at the Brussels residence of the Alliance's Secretary General. Today, the President of Ukraine is taking part in the European Council meeting where he will meet with the EU Heads of State and Government in an expanded format to discuss common security challenges and Ukraine's needs to continue the fight against Russian aggression.