Vladimir Putin was accused of “living in a different reality” by Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid a fresh drive for peace in the Ukraine war.
The Ukrainian president insulted the Russian leader as the US continues to lead trilateral discussions between the warring countries in Abu Dhabi.
Zelenskyy said Russia claimed at the talks that it controls half of the Donbas – made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – in the east of Ukraine.
Putin has been trying to seize full control of the area since the start of the war in February 2022 but it has been locked in stalemate for years.
The Russian leader has been demanding that Ukraine surrender approximately 2,000 square miles of territory in the Donbas which his armed forces have been unable to seize by force.
He has repeatedly called for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas too, an idea rejected by Kyiv.
After the Russian team insisted it had half of the Donbas, the Ukrainian leader wrote on X: “Our team told them, ‘We don’t know how you can even say such things. We have video footage, images, other things proving that these areas are under our control.’
“Putin lives in a different reality. I can draw a picture for him too where I fully occupy Russia. But it’s not true.
“What was good is that the American side confirmed the Ukrainian assessment of what is happening on the battlefield.”
But Ukraine has also rejected a US proposal to redefine the borders of the Donbas region to reflect current split of territory along the front line.
Kyiv has repeatedly made it clear that recognising Russian occupation is a red line for any negotiations.
The Telegraph reported that Trump’s peace envoys, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, were hoping to progress the stalled peace talks with such a proposal.
Zelenskyy also said there had been a “change” to the approach from US mediators.
“I see changes. I’m very happy with what I hear. We will see what can be done,” he told a press conference in Copenhagen.
It comes after the White House unveiled a sanctions-busting diesel deal with Russia last month.
However, Donald Trump still told CBS that Ukraine was likely to “end up with a different shape” after any peace deal.
The US president has been determined to end the war after insisting he could resolve the conflict within 24 hours of returning to office in January 2025.
After almost five years of war, Putin controls around a fifth of Ukraine’s sovereign land – including the Crimea peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 – but is still refusing to withdraw any troops.
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
