Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded in absentia to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who rejected and called his statements regarding Washington's demand that Kiev withdraw Ukrainian troops from Donbas false.
„As they say, the biggest part of the iceberg is invisible. Well, believe me, I only named the smaller one. "I am speaking absolutely frankly, it can be formulated in different ways," Zelensky said.
He said he had never claimed to be under pressure from the United States and "did not lie to anyone."
Zelensky said in an interview with Reuters on March 25 that the United States was linking Ukraine's security guarantees to the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the controlled areas of Donbas.
"President Trump, unfortunately, in my opinion, is still choosing a strategy of putting more pressure on the Ukrainian side. The Americans are ready to finally approve these guarantees at the highest level as soon as Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas," he said at the time.
Rubio accused Zelensky of lying, saying that the Americans were insisting on providing guarantees only after the end of the conflict. "What is a security guarantee?" These are troops ready to intervene and provide security. If you bring them in now, that means you are entering a war," the Secretary of State explained.
The American delegation did not link the guarantees to whether he would "cease territory," Rubio stressed. "I don't know why he says things like that. "It's simply not true," he added.
Ukrainska Pravda and The New York Times reported on the US demand that Ukraine withdraw its troops from Donbas, citing their own sources.
The withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the DPR, LPR, and Zaporizhia and Kherson regions is one of the conditions that Putin outlined for peace talks with Kiev in the summer of 2024.