Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday rejected what he described as Vladimir Putin’s “historic s…”. He said he has no interest in debates about the past and wants peace talks to focus entirely on ending the war.
In a sharp post on He argued that the only issue worth discussing with Putin is how to end the war quickly and successfully.
Putin has long made claims about the history of Ukraine and Russia, including a 2021 piece he wrote discussing his position that “Russians and Ukrainians were one people” and that the two countries are “essentially the same historical and spiritual space.” Zelensky said that debates over history will not achieve the goal of achieving peace, and will only prolong the process of reaching a solution.
“I’ve been to Russia – to many cities. And I knew a lot of people there. Him [Putin] has never been to Ukraine so often. He was alone in the big cities. I went to small towns. From the northern part to the southern part. Everywhere. I know their mentality. That’s why I don’t want to waste time on all these things,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Putin rejects key parts of US peace plan as Kremlin official warns Europe faces new war risk: report
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky both met separately with President Donald Trump. Despite a peace deal being close, territorial disputes remain, Zelenskyy said. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP; Christian Bruna/Getty)
The comments came after a new round of trilateral talks between Ukrainian, US and Russian officials in Switzerland; During the meetings, the Ukrainian president suggested he had made limited progress.
“As of today, we cannot say that the outcome of the Geneva meetings is sufficient,” Zelenskyy explained. He said that while military representatives had discussed certain issues “seriously and substantively,” sensitive political issues, possible compromises and a possible meeting between leaders had not yet been sufficiently developed.
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A Ukrainian delegation (right) and a Russian delegation (left) wait for the start of a meeting on the first day of the third round of trilateral talks between delegates from Ukraine, Russia and the US in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 17, 2026. (Press Service of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte questioned last week at the Munich Security Conference whether Russia is serious about the negotiations, noting that Moscow has once again sent presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who has previously emphasized historical narratives in talks, to lead the discussions in Geneva.
Medinsky characterized the two days of negotiations as “difficult but businesslike,” according to a translation of his comments from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
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Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky leaves after a second round of US-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine in Geneva on February 18, 2026. (Harold Cunningham/AFP via Getty Images)
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This is reported by NBC News that Medinsky, who has served as a Kremlin aide since 2020, is considered a close ally of Putin whose views on Ukrainian history closely align with those of the Russian president.
“It seems clear to anyone familiar with history at the primary school level: Russians and Ukrainians are historically one people,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda in November.
