GENICHESK, July 17. /TASS/. The New York Times report about Ukraine wanting to negotiate a ceasefire is an attempt to take "a timeout" so the US can resolve its internal problems, Kherson Region Governor Vladimir Saldo told TASS.

Earlier, The New York Times (NYT) reported that the Ukrainian authorities were planning to halt hostilities with Russia through peace talks. The daily wrote that Kiev was drawing up a plan to stop the conflict with Russia. According to the NYT, these intentions can be seen in President Vladimir Zelensky’s recent remarks. He opined previously that Russian representatives should be at the upcoming second Ukraine summit so as to resolve the conflict.

"Is it the US establishment that is calling for such ‘talks’? Yes. Zelensky acts as a performer or a mouthpiece here, if you will. The United States needs a timeout, [it needs] a freeze of the conflict. They need to grapple with their internal conflicts, to buy time and then keep sponging off other countries with redoubled vigor in order to prolong the ‘Pax Americana’ (‘American peace’ in Latin, or the era of stability in the West after the end of World War Two - TASS)," Saldo said.

The governor pointed out that the Ukrainian leadership was given instructions by the US.

"It is the American elites that are ruling Ukraine now, not Zelensky or, of course, the Ukrainian people," he added.

Saldo believes that this article is tied to the political crisis in the US.

"Thus, the so-called intra-clan strife in the United States has brought about the assassination attempt on Trump and earlier the storming of Capitol [Hill], and in general, the marginalization of political conjuncture," he explained.

"And what we need is victory. It is unlikely that our fathers and grandfathers were seeking talks with the Nazis before the Berlin offensive operation," Saldo emphasized.