UKRAINE’S deputy foreign minister has warned “liar” Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted and does not want a ceasefire.
Mariana Betsa told The Sun the tyrant has no real interest in brokering lasting peace in the region.
But she warned Ukraine will not accept any territorial compromises in a deal, insisting Kyiv does not want “peace at any price”.
Daria Zarivna, who serves as an adviser to the chief of staff of the Ukrainian president, emphasized to The Sun the importance of the return of thousands of children abducted by Russia as a prerequisite for any potential agreement.
While former US President Donald Trump expressed his belief in Putin’s desire to bring the war to an end, Kyiv and its Western allies have consistently accused the Kremlin of obstructing progress in negotiations.
Washington has been trying to hash out terms of a deal between Ukraine and Russia in a bid to end Putin’s three-year invasion.
But the Kremlin has been insisting on a list of conditions and demands – delaying the process.
Kyiv quickly agreed on an initial proposal for a full 30-ceasefire earlier this month – but this was quickly rejected by Putin.
Ukrainian official Mariana rubbished suggestions Putin wants the war to end and said “no one should be fooled by Russia”.
She lambasted Moscow as she warned: “We cannot trust Russia. Russia lies and they know how to lie.”
Mariana told The Sun: “No one should believe Russia’s words or Russia’s statements in the media actions, we should look into actions.
“We had really intense discussions with our US colleagues at the beginning of March regarding the ceasefire.
“Ukraine engaged in good faith.
“We agreed for the ceasefire for the truce in the sky for the truce in the sea.
“We agreed for the ceasefire in the front. It was 11th of March and Russia they just put conditions.
“Well Ukraine again showed its commitment to peace commitment to comprehensive just and lasting peace.
“What did Russia? They started bombing us even with big intensity and so many people getting killed throughout this month.
“I think the answer is that Russia doesn’t really want peace in Ukraine and shows no remorse, no actions towards achieving this goal.”
On Thursday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky met with key allies at the so-called “coalition of the willing” summit in Paris.
Various leaders, such as Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, have joined in urging the United States to maintain a firm stance against Russia, concurring that the present moment is not conducive to lifting sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Sir Keir insisted Putin must be given a deadline to make progress on a Ukraine ceasefire, and accused him of “playing games”.
He said Putin was attempting to drag the Trump-initiated process out to allow his forces time to continue assaults on Ukraine.
But Mariana warned Ukraine would not compromise on any eventual peace deal, vowing to return all abducted children and not concede any land.
She said: “It is important to know that Ukraine will never accept territorial compromises unjust peace.
“It will never accept the situation where our prisoners of war, illegally detained persons and children are not returned.
“They should return all of them and children should return unconditionally.
The level of sinisterity behind this is horrible.
Daria Zarivna
“I would like to highlight that we will not rest if Ukrainian people do not have justice served to them.
“This is extremely important that it’s not just peace at any price.
“It should be comprehensive just and lasting peace for Ukraine with accountability for Russia and Russian criminals.”
Presidential advisor Daria warned the return of kidnapped Ukrainian children is imperative not only for their safety – but as it could become a “threat to global security”.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly moved into areas under Moscow’s control since the war began.
They have been assigned Russian citizenship and “adopted” by Russian families.
Many are forced into sinister camps where they are starved, tortured and “brainwashed” into becoming Russian citizens.
Meanwhile, some 1.6 million Ukrainian children are living in territory controlled by Putin’s fighters.
Daria said: “They are trying to change their names, their personal data, their whereabouts.
“The famous case of Margarita, this was a 10-month-old girl from Kherson Children’s Home, which was brought under the medical prescription to Moscow.
“Then she was adopted by Sergey Mironov, one of the top allies of Putin.
“Her name was changed to Marina. Her place of birth was changed from Kherson to Podolsk.
“When I had an opportunity to address this issue in the Security Council, I showed the birth certificate, the Ukrainian birth certificate of this girl, and the Russian birth certificate.
“It was good to use evidence like this, because the whole scale of crime becomes very obvious.
“This girl was only 10 months old when all this happened, so she didn’t even realise who she was, what kind of origin she had, and her whole life was just destroyed and changed.
“The level of sinisterity behind this is horrible.”
Kyiv has repeatedly vowed to bring every child home – calling the abductions a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide.
‘Putin must be slapped with strict peace deadline’
by Martina Bet and Jerome Starkey
VLADIMIR Putin must be slapped with a strict peace deadline to end his deadly games in Ukraine, Keir Starmer said.
The PM issued his warning as European allies met in Paris to step up deployment plans to enforce any peace deal.
Britain, France, and Germany will send military chiefs to Kyiv for talks on creating a multinational force to ensure Russia sticks to any ceasefire.
Sir Keir accused Putin of stalling negotiations to buy time.
He declared: “They are playing games and they’re playing for time. It’s classic from the Putin playbook.”
While he stopped short of setting a precise deadline, he made clear he wants progress “in days and weeks, not months and months”.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Putin is not ready for direct talks.
“He wants war, and what can a man who wants war say at peace talks? I’m not going to swallow his narrative. I’m not interested.”
Asked about US envoy Steve Witkoff’s comments that sending troops to Ukraine would be absurd, Mr Zelensky said: “For us, these people are from another planet.”
And when asked what he thought of any progress, he said: “The world moves slower than the country at war. It is going slowly — but I can’t push anyone.”
In a rare criticism of Moscow, Donald Trump said Russia might be “dragging their heels” at talks.
But Mr Zelensky demanded the US needed to get stronger against Vladimir Putin.
