Zelensky shared how he found himself alone with Putin during the negotiations in 2019.

Volodymyr Zelensky shared his memories of the meeting with the President of Russia in 2019. In an interview with American podcaster Lex Fridman, the Ukrainian leader recounted how he found himself alone with Vladimir Putin after the negotiating participants—leaders from Germany and France—left the room due to fatigue.

"Everyone was already tired, and it was just the two of us left. I spoke to him about the need for a ceasefire. He insisted on troop withdrawal, but I explained that it would take 20 years. We discussed the mileage and the length of the demarcation line. I had many arguments because I knew the situation in detail. I was well-prepared, while he was not. He lacked an understanding of what the border line represents, where it runs, and how long it would take to withdraw troops. Why? Because he initially had no intention of doing any of that," Zelensky recounted.

The President of Ukraine noted that during the meeting, they managed to agree on continuing gas transit ("at the request of Angela Merkel"), prisoner exchanges, and a ceasefire. However, the outcomes turned out to be different.

"The gas contract was signed, and he [Putin] was knowledgeable about the details of that issue. We did indeed conduct a prisoner exchange. But regarding the ceasefire, just a month later, our people began to be killed. I called him... There were only two or three calls. The front line remained unchanged, but the Russians continued to kill. After that, they simply stopped answering the phone," Zelensky added.

It should be noted that Russian occupiers executed Ukrainian prisoners of war near Neskuchne. Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets reached out to the ICRC and the UN, urging them to condemn this war crime and increase pressure on the Russian Federation.