MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky can’t be trusted when he talks about possible negotiations with Russia along the lines of some "peace plan," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"No one has any faith in him," she said at a news conference. "Everyone understands perfectly well that this is a man who can twist anything, who can lie, who can abandon everything, as he abandoned even his own people, literally throwing the people of Ukraine on some sacrificial altar."

"Nothing has been done by anyone. Not by Zelensky, not by his administration or other branches of government, not by Western handlers to rescind the law banning Ukraine from negotiating with Russia," she went on to say. "We hear a lot of words, but we basically do not see any deeds. Well, except for the fact that Zelensky continues to massacre Ukrainian citizens."

Zakharova said Zelensky and his patrons want to make another attempt "to promote the so-called peace formula, which they are unsuccessfully trying to literally force on everyone, to involve as many countries as possible in its discussion under false pretenses."

"There is nothing new in the intention of the Kiev regime and its Western handlers, one might say, to rehabilitate themselves for the failed so-called peace summit," the diplomat continued. "We understand that these attempts will continue. Behind this are the desires to impose the dead-end "Zelensky formula" on a wide range of countries.

Connection with US election

Zelensky's unexpected "pliability" about possible peace talks with Russia "could also be linked to the US election," Zakharova said.

"Look how he immediately started calling [Donald] Trump after the assassination attempt, and also after a number of experts suggested that actions by the Kiev regime’s extremists against or in connection with the US elections were not ruled out," she said.