Russia Misled US Negotiators About Territorial Control in Donbas, Zelensky Says

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, Nov. 10, that Russian negotiators had made false claims about controlling Ukrainian-held territory in Donbas, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to be operating in a different reality as Washington attempts to broker an end to the war. Speaking at a press conference in Copenhagen following meetings with Nordic leaders, Zelensky said Russian military and intelligence representatives claimed to control roughly half of the Donbas territory that remains under Ukrainian control.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. According to Zelensky, Ukrainian negotiators were stunned by the assertions and challenged the Russian delegation with video and photographic evidence. “It’s not like, you know, one village,” Zelensky said, emphasizing that the disputed claims concerned a substantial area. He said Russian representatives had seriously defended their version of the battlefield situation, despite evidence presented by Ukraine. “I think that Putin lives a little bit in another different information. It’s different reality,” Zelensky said. The president suggested Putin was also telling American negotiators that Russia could seize the remaining eastern territories of Ukraine within months. “Look, I need one, two, three months, and we will occupy the eastern part totally of Ukraine,” Zelensky said, describing what he believed Putin was communicating to Washington. Other Topics of Interest Ukraine Working on Second Evacuation From Russian-Occupied Oleshky, Ombudsman Says Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said more Oleshky residents had requested to leave for Ukrainian-government controlled territory after witnessing that the first operation worked safely. “But it’s not true. It’s not reality.” Zelensky said American representatives had confirmed Ukraine’s assessment of the battlefield situation, which he described as an important development in the negotiations. Zelensky ready to meet Putin, rejects Russian territorial demands Despite the disagreements, Zelensky said he was prepared to discuss territorial questions directly with Putin, with mediation from the US and Europe. “That’s why we are ready to sit and speak about territory,” he said. He argued that such negotiations should take place at the level of national leaders because they require a clear understanding of actual territorial control. “I know everything, and I think that the leader of Russia has to know everything, where we are,” Zelensky said. Rejecting Moscow’s demands for Ukrainian withdrawals, he added: “He said that you have to leave from here. I don’t understand why, because it’s our land.” Zelensky also cited Kherson, divided by the Dnipro River, as an example of the complexity of territorial negotiations. “On one bank there are Russians, on another bank we control everything. But people want to live [on] both banks, and this is a Ukrainian city,” he said. “Such questions are sensitive. Yes, they are very difficult, but we have to speak about it.” Zelensky said Ukraine would raise the possibility of a meeting between leaders during the next round of negotiations on Wednesday, Nov. 11. “I’m not sure that Russia is ready, but we will raise this topic.” ‘We need more pressure, less business with these guys’ Zelensky also questioned Washington’s approach to Russia, arguing that expanding commercial engagement or potentially lifting sanctions would be less effective than increasing economic pressure on Moscow. “We don’t trust, but we hope. We can’t live without hope,” Zelensky said when asked whether the latest negotiations could produce better results than previous rounds. He stressed that Ukraine supports diplomacy but believes Russia still faces insufficient pressure. “We need more pressure on Russia, it’s true,” he said. “I think that we need more pressure, less business with these guys, and it will be more useful.” Zelensky nevertheless defended the decision to resume negotiations, saying that even a prisoner exchange would represent meaningful progress. “Even if the result will be exchange, it’s a success. People will go home,” Zelensky said. Zelensky warns against Putin’s European security demands Zelensky also expressed concern about discussions between Washington and Moscow on a new European security architecture, warning that the initiative could revive demands Putin presented to then-US President Joe Biden in 2021. He said Ukraine and its Nordic allies remained cautious because the details of the American-Russian discussions had not been shared. “Nobody really understands 100% what they want,” Zelensky said. “Nobody saw the documents, what they discussed, I mean Americans with Russians.” He suggested the current proposals resembled Putin’s earlier attempts to reshape Europe’s security order. “To my mind, and I stay on my version, that this is the same idea what Putin tried to raise with President Biden in 2021 about changing architecture,” he said. Zelensky insisted that negotiations must follow a clear sequence: first end Russia’s war against Ukraine, then establish security guarantees for Kyiv, and only afterward consider broader European security arrangements. “This sequence is very, very important,” he said. He also expressed hope that the US Congress would take a more decisive role in supporting Ukraine, particularly in securing long-term American security guarantees. ‘I’m not God’ – Zelensky rejects forgiveness without accountability Asked whether he could forgive Putin and how Ukrainians and Russians might eventually reconcile, Zelensky rejected the idea that reconciliation could substitute for justice. “No, of course not,” he said when asked about forgiveness. “They killed not abstract, a very concrete number of people in very concrete cities, and they made a lot of tragedies with concrete lives.” “I’m just a human. I’m not God.” He insisted that those responsible for killings and other atrocities must be identified and held accountable through legal proceedings. “They have to answer,” he said, adding that courts and judges must determine responsibility. “We didn’t begin this war,” Zelensky said, stressing that Ukraine’s demand remains unchanged: Russia must end its aggression, stop the war and pursue a diplomatic resolution.