Zelenskiy Sees 'No Faith' In Putin As EU Mulls Russia Peace Talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said multiple rounds of Ukraine-Russia peace talks failed to yield results. (file photo)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he does not trust Putin amid reports that the European Union plans to organize peace talks with Russia.

Bloomberg on May 27 reported that the bloc is working on organizing a meeting in Saudi Arabia later this year with Russia's participation.

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The meeting would come after a June 15-16 Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland, where representatives of dozens of countries -- but not Russia -- are expected to attend.

"There is no faith in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," Zelenskiy said during a press conference in Spain, where he signed a bilateral security deal with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez worth 1 billion euros on May 27.

The Ukrainian president said his country had held around 200 rounds of talks with the Kremlin, many of which were held long before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"There were no results; the occupied territories remained occupied," Zelenskiy told reporters.

He said 90 countries had agreed to attend the summit near the city of Lucerne in Switzerland next month.

In a video message on May 26, Zelenskiy urged world leaders, particularly U.S. President Joe Biden, to "show leadership in advancing the peace" and attend the gathering.

However, Bloomberg said Biden will skip the gathering to attend a fundraiser for his presidential campaign, while Brazil and China are planning to organize their own initiative and will send junior officials.

Russia has not been invited to the Ukrainian-organized summit. Zelenskiy has said Russia's participation risked disrupting the summit.

Moscow has dismissed the significance of the summit in Switzerland, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying in April that peace talks without Russia "make no sense."

Similarly, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said decisions regarding the war in Ukraine that "ignore Russia's position" are "detached from reality."