{"id":4378,"date":"2025-10-22T17:11:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/putin-cancels-peace-talks-after-tomahawk-threat-fades-zelensky-says\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T05:18:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T05:18:56","slug":"putin-cancels-peace-talks-after-tomahawk-threat-fades-zelensky-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/putin-cancels-peace-talks-after-tomahawk-threat-fades-zelensky-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin cancels peace talks after Tomahawk threat fades, Zelensky says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Vladimir Putin of abandoning planned peace talks after the United States decided against sending long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv, suggesting Moscow\u2019s interest in diplomacy evaporated the moment the missile threat was taken off the table.<\/p>\n

The move has led to claims that Vladimir Putin used the prospect of talks with Donald Trump as a ruse to buy time and halt the possible delivery of Tomahawks, which Kyiv has described as a crucial deterrent against Russian strikes.<\/p>\n

After Russia abruptly pulled out of the talks, Zelensky said Moscow\u2019s behaviour showed its real motives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe front line can spark diplomacy. Instead, Russia continues to do everything to weasel out of diplomacy, and as soon as the issue of long-range capabilities for us \u2014 for Ukraine \u2014 became less immediate, Russia\u2019s interest in diplomacy faded almost automatically,\u201d he said during his daily video address. \u201cThis signals that this very issue \u2014 the issue of our deep strike capabilities \u2014 may hold the indispensable key to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The planned talks had been agreed following Zelensky\u2019s meeting with Trump in Washington last week, where both leaders discussed the possibility of holding dialogue \u201calong the current front line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe held a meeting with the President of the United States, and we agreed to try to organise the dialogue exactly like that \u2013 along the current front line. That was precisely the signal President Trump conveyed to his team. It was also made public,\u201d Zelensky said in a statement released by the Presidential Office of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Trump had told reporters ahead of the meeting that he hoped to avoid escalating the war by deploying the missiles. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy for us to give \u2026 you\u2019re talking about massive numbers of very powerful weapons,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s one of the things we\u2019ll be talking about, hopefully, they won\u2019t need it, hopefully, we\u2019ll be able to get the war over with, without thinking about Tomahawks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelensky said Russia\u2019s reaction to the discussion made clear that Tomahawks were \u201cprecisely the card they take seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greater Ukraine\u2019s long-range reach, the greater Russia\u2019s willingness to end the war. These weeks reaffirmed it. The discussion on Tomahawks turned out to be a major investment in diplomacy because it forced Russia to show what it takes seriously,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that Ukraine would continue engaging with its Western partners on long-range capabilities, while prioritising air defence. <\/p>\n

\u201cAir defence is, of course, the top priority,\u201d he said. Zelensky also confirmed preparations for new defence agreements with European partners and said Ukraine was finalising a contract with the United States for a long-term supply of Patriot air defence systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreparation is also underway for a contract with the United States for a sufficient number of Patriot systems for us, both in the near term and over the longer period,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The collapse of the talks came just hours before a heavy overnight Russian air assault that killed at least six people, including two children, according to Ukrainian officials. The attack struck several cities, including Kyiv and Kharkiv, where a kindergarten was directly hit.<\/p>\n

At least one drone hit the building in Kharkiv while nearly 50 children were inside. <\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, the children were in shelter during the alarm, and they were not injured,\u201d the local governor said on Telegram. \u201cIn total, 48 children were rescued by the State Emergency Service units. Four people were hospitalised, two of them in serious condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Images released by emergency services showed firefighters carrying terrified toddlers to safety from the destroyed building. Kharkiv\u2019s regional authorities said one person had been killed and nine injured in the strikes on the city. Dozens more were rescued in Kyiv after drones and debris struck high-rise apartment blocks.<\/p>\n

Zelensky said the latest wave of strikes showed Russia \u201cdoesn\u2019t feel enough pressure for dragging out the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Trump, who has been pushing for a swift resolution to the war, told reporters last week he expected to meet with Putin \u201cwithin two weeks or so.\u201d However, a White House official later clarified there were \u201cno plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future,\u201d following what was described as a \u201cproductive\u201d call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, an additional in-person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine \u201chas once again expressed its readiness, readiness to end the war,\u201d suggesting Putin\u2019s sudden withdrawal from peace talks was a calculated move to test Washington\u2019s resolve.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Staff Writer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Vladimir Putin of abandoning planned peace talks after the United States decided against sending long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv, suggesting Moscow\u2019s interest in diplomacy evaporated the moment the missile threat was taken off the table. The move has led to claims that Vladimir Putin used<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4380,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4378\/revisions\/4380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}