Zelenskyy identified Putin’s sole fear

Russian president Volodymyr Putin fears only one thing: provoking discontent among his own people, who might rebel against him due to the burdens of the war.

This opinion was expressed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with Fareed Zakaria for CNN’s GPS program.

According to Zelenskyy, Putin has not changed his core strategy in the conflict with Ukraine, and his discussions with various leaders about a supposed willingness for peace are essentially meaningless.

"Sometimes he plays a game with certain leaders who are waiting for some emotional response from Putin, wanting to hear something about peace... He is a player who senses the weakness of the West and the Global South. He finds the gaps where there is no unity between them, where they have different interests. The problem is that people need to understand that his mission is not to stop the war. He does not want to stop anything," the Ukrainian President explained.

Zelenskyy emphasizes that the only way to end the war is to make Ukraine strong enough to affect the aggressor state and make its society feel the burdens of the conflict.

"I am convinced that he fears only one thing. Not leaders, not countries, nothing else. He fears his own society - the Russian people. And if the Russian people feel danger, if they do not have a comfortable life, if they live without electricity like our people do, they will understand the cost of war. They will become dissatisfied and start to influence him, Putin. That’s why I said: make Ukraine strong, and you will see - he will sit down and start negotiating," Zelenskyy concluded.

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