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Diplomat sees Zelensky fighting against Ukrainian people, not Russia

Maria Zakharova pointed to Kiev’s silence regarding Ukraine refusing a thousand POWs

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/TASS

MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has been fighting not against Russia but against the Ukrainian people in order "to destroy it," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Zelensky is not fighting against Russia. Zelensky is fighting against the Ukrainian people. And his mission which was prescribed for him by someone is to destroy the Ukrainian nation, and to destroy it under the flags of nationalism and the flags of a certain national identity, and to destroy it physically," the Russian diplomat emphasized on Sputnik Radio, commenting on Kiev’s refusal to take back 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war as part of a swap. "They [Kiev] do not need Ukrainian citizens, either alive or dead," she maintained.

Zakharova pointed to Kiev’s silence regarding Ukraine refusing a thousand POWs.

Earlier, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s delegation at negotiations with Ukraine, said Kiev has refused to accept the 1,000 POWs, explaining that this refusal has complicated the second stage of the exchange deal and delayed the commencement of a third stage.

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Ukraine crisis Foreign policy Maria Zakharova

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