Zelenskyy reveals why he banned negotiations with Russia at start of full-scale invasion

He said this during a joint briefing with Moldova's President Maia Sandu, as reported by Ukrinform.  

"We had a decision from the National Security and Defense Council on whether we could talk to Russia or not. I signed this decree because Putin began quickly establishing numerous channels with separatists and representatives of other countries to influence Ukraine and our independence. There were many negotiation processes, many shadowy negotiation corridors. I quickly stopped it. I simply stopped separatism in our state. I banned any political figures in Ukraine from conducting negotiations with the Russian side, with Putin’s supporters during the war. This was when their troops were here, in the Kyiv region," Zelenskyy said.

According to the president, the Russians were trying to exert pressure at that time "through numerous corridors."  

"Our parliamentary body, the parliamentary bodies of our European colleagues, the United States, and others. There were many different negotiation platforms. I realized that we and our relevant authorities could not control this," he explained.

Zelenskyy noted that he made "absolutely fair decision."  

"I am the president of Ukraine, I am the leader of these negotiations. I banned everyone else from doing it. Putin, of course, didn't like it because he had many channels. There are channels that everyone knows about, as the relevant people were arrested and later exchanged for our military, and they also used other channels, even within some of our institutions, which I am not yet ready to discuss publicly," Zelenskyy emphasized.

• U.S. President Donald Trump stated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should not have allowed the war in Ukraine to happen and that reaching an agreement could have been done 'easily'.