Putin demands to cancel Zelenskyy's ban on talks, calls Ukraine's president "illegitimate"

The Russian state propaganda agency RIA-Novosti reports.

“Negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv will be illegitimate if they are held now. We need to find a way to cancel the previously signed decree, and the Speaker of the Rada can do it. You can negotiate with anyone, but because of his illegitimacy, Zelenskyy has no right to sign anything,” Putin said in a statement.

The Russian leader says that Moscow offered Ukraine to leave the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, and then there would allegedly be no fighting.

“Everything will be over in a month and a half to two months, if they run out of sponsor money and ammunition. The West persuaded Kyiv to continue the war, Ukraine's sovereignty is almost zero,” Putin said.

• During a briefing on January 25, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he had banned negotiations with Russia at the beginning of the full-scale invasion to stop separatism in the country.
• At the time, the Ukrainian president expressed hope that future potential talks would also include the United States and Europe.