Zelensky: "Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire to prove that Putin is not ready for this"

Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire to prove that Russia will not go for it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced this in an interview with European media.

"There is the Middle East, which always told me tete-a-tet, in other conversations, that Putin is ready for a ceasefire, for an unconditional one. That Ukraine does not want the end of the war. Ukraine does not want peace․ And with such steps I clearly showed that we are ready for a ceasefire, but now you will see that Putin is not ready"․

The second reason, according to Zelensky, was that he needed to restore US aid to Ukraine.

Zelensky also noted that now that Putin has refused a ceasefire, he would like the US president to put pressure on him with sanctions, not to lift them, but to strengthen them.