When asked whether his partners saw his address from Kupyansk and how it influenced the negotiations on the “peace plan,” Zelensky replied: “It greatly influenced both the Americans and the Europeans.”
“Everyone highly appreciated this – both our soldiers, that they hold Kupyansk, and the fact that I was there personally, this put an end to the fact that Putin is again lying about the occupied new territories. This influenced my conversations with the Americans, this greatly influenced the conversations with Europeans,” Zelensky said.
Context
On October 22, Russian media wrote that the command of the Russian army had already promised Putin the capture of Kupyansk, therefore, in order to improve the positions of the occupying forces, Moscow was delaying the peace negotiation process.
On October 26, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov reported to Putin about the alleged encirclement of Ukrainian troops near Kupyansk and Pokrovsk. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Klimenko, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Syrsky, and subsequently Zelensky denied this information.
On December 9, Syrsky reported that a “successful counter-sabotage operation” was ongoing in the city, and emphasized that “the volume of Russian lies is many times higher than the actual rate of advance of Russian troops.”
On December 12, Zelensky said that he was in Kupyansk.
On December 17, Syrsky said that the Ukrainian military controls almost 90 percent of the territory of Kupyansk.
