'Belarus Told Us Many Times That This Was Just Exercise'

Zelensky explained why he rejected Orban's proposal for a ceasefire.

On July 2, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was on a visit to Kyiv, said at a press conference that he suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky think about a ceasefire before the start of peace negotiations with Russia.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Zelensky noted that Ukraine cannot trust Russia on the issue of a ceasefire, since the Kremlin has repeatedly violated all agreements. Besides, giving an advantage to the aggressor who occupied part of your territory would be a short-sighted decision.

"We can't just talk about ceasefire, we can't just trust Putin, we, in general, can't trust him anymore, for us he is a murderer and aggressor," Zelensky said.

The President of Ukraine recalled that Kyiv and Moscow had repeatedly agreed on a ceasefire "since the Minsk Agreements, many years ago," but Russia, according to him, disrupted these agreements.

"Therefore, only on an international platform, in the presence of trusted leaders," Zelensky said, noting that the main issue here is the issue of trust, and such a platform can become a peace summit.

"A clear plan is also needed for ceasefire. We need to be sure that Russia will not use the ceasefire to deliver weapons on our territory that they have occupied. That is, they can simply gather a strong fist, then accuse us (as it has been repeatedly) that we violated the ceasefire, and start another invasion," Zelensky said.

He said that in this case, the situation of 2022, when Russian troops reached Kyiv, could be repeated.

"Then a large number of [Russian] weapons was accumulated on the territory of Belarus. And Belarus told us many times that this was an exercise, no occupation – just a military exercise.

I do not want trouble for my country, we are already at war," the Ukrainian president continued. "Giving an advantage to Russia today is simply unacceptable, we need to be reasonable. And it is important who will be responsible for this, except for Ukrainians with their lives? What nation? It is very simple to agree on a ceasefire but it is very difficult to do it."

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