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Russia Today
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Zelensky treats peace talks as ‘political show' – ex-Ukrainian diplomat
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky seeks to make a 'political show' out of the expected peace talks with Russia in Istanbul, even if it means disrupting the negotiations, former Ukrainian diplomat Andrey Telizhenko has told RT. Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said he would be waiting for the Ukrainian team starting at 10 a.m. local time on Friday, for the first direct talks since 2022. During a visit to Ankara on Thursday, Zelensky criticized what he described as the 'low-level' composition of the Russian delegation, but nevertheless promised to dispatch his own negotiators to Istanbul. Telizhenko told RT that Zelensky has been relying on France and the UK for weapons and financial aid because he 'does not listen to Washington anymore.' If the Ukrainian leader secures more support from the West, he 'may agree and move forward with the negotiations, or he may sabotage them,' the ex-diplomat said, expressing doubts that real talks could 'ever happen.''This is just a political show, not diplomacy,' he said. 'Zelensky is not thinking about Ukrainians. He is trying to play this game for himself,' Telizhenko argued. Russian and Ukrainian delegations were initially expected to meet in Istanbul on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin proposed resuming direct talks without any preconditions. According to Moscow, the negotiations should resume from the process that was interrupted in the spring of 2022, when Ukraine abruptly walked away from the table. Zelensky initially ruled out any negotiations with Moscow unless Russia agreed to a 30-day ceasefire. Moscow has argued that Kiev would use such a truce to rearm and regroup its forces. Putin has said that, for a lasting ceasefire, Ukraine must halt its mobilization campaign and stop receiving weapons from abroad.
Russia Today
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Kiev ‘disrespecting citizens' by using cheeseburgers in military draft – ex-Ukrainian diplomat
The authorities in Kiev are desperately attempting to lure young citizens into the military with promises of McDonald's cheeseburgers because they have run out of experienced soldiers in the conflict with Russia, former Ukrainian diplomat and parliamentary adviser Andrey Telizhenko has told RT. Social media users expressed outrage this week after the Ukrainian Defense Ministry published a clip on its TikTok account, telling potential recruits they could buy 15,625 cheeseburgers for the 1 million hryvnia ($24,000) sum being offered to sign a contract with the military. Commenting in an interview on Friday, Telizhenko said the leadership in Kiev 'disrespects the people in Ukraine' by asking them to die for hamburgers. 'They are not talking about something national... something patriotic. They are talking about a foreign brand of a foreign country. They are throwing low quality burgers or sandwiches into the crowd and saying: 'Eat it,'' he insisted. The government of Vladimir Zelensky is 'trying to put this idea of freedom and democracy behind McDonald's and fast food – hideous fast food – to youngsters for them to go and fight for a cheeseburger, for food. This is just overwhelming,' the former diplomat added. Read more Kiev uses McDonald's to replenish depleted army ranks According to Telizhenko, Kiev's campaign targets those aged between 18 and 24 because 'there is nobody else to fight.' Experienced troops trained by NATO prior to the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022 'are all now destroyed,' he added. 'They are now gone… They died, more than a million of them.' Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said late last year that Kiev's losses during the conflict had amounted to over 1 million, which includes both killed and severely wounded. Anyone who would fall for the promise of 15,625 cheeseburgers is not going to receive that money anyway, Telizhenko insisted. 'The Ukrainian government is not paying out that money to the Ukrainians. That is a fact,' he said. Zelensky claims that just over 45,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the fighting so far because 'only those people were paid out – out of a million dead,' Telizhenko stated. .mediaplayer { min-height: 150px; } .jwplayer .jw-controls .jw-controlbar .jw-icon-cc { display: none; } .media__video_noscript { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; height: 100%; width: 100%; } .full_transcript_text { display: block; }
