Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin currently does not want peace negotiations and criticized the US-Russia agreement on the export of Russian diesel, saying that this deal will directly “fill Putin’s pockets” with funds to finance the war.
Zelensky said in Brussels, during the European Union summit, that “Putin currently does not want peace negotiations, in any form” and assessed that this is a play on words that does not reflect a genuine desire to end the conflict.
The Ukrainian leader pointed out that the arrangement for placing Russian diesel on world markets will lead to an influx of money into Russia. “Money will once again start flowing into Russia thanks to this diesel deal,” Zelensky said, adding that this helps finance the war, although it will not compensate for all the consequences for global markets.
Zelensky also spoke about problems with the satellite communications used by Ukraine, stating that the speeds of the Starshield/Starlink system have dropped, but are “gradually being restored”: “Has the speed been fully restored to the previous level? No. Is it currently being restored? Yes,” he said, describing the outages as “very painful and very unpleasant” because they made it harder to shoot down Shahed drones.
In the presence of European leaders, Zelensky requested additional assistance in the area of air defense ahead of winter and warned that Ukraine is currently not a priority destination for Patriot systems. “Most PAC-2 and PAC-3 systems are currently being sent to the Middle East. It is an open secret that we are not a priority destination for these systems,” he stated.
European leaders expressed their support for Ukraine; European Council President Antonio Costa stated that now is not the time to reduce aid, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU supports sanctions as long as Russia does not end the war and is preparing a new package of measures against Moscow.
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