Russian propagandists are spreading information that Ukraine has expressed its readiness to “give up Crimea and Donbas” by initiating peace negotiations. They refer to statements made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi during an interview with the American channel CBS. Propagandists claim that Country 404 proposes to begin a peaceful dialogue with Russia without demanding the return of the 1991 borders, although Kyiv previously insisted on this condition for resuming negotiations with Moscow. However, these statements are based on a distortion of reality.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this manipulation. They found that the actual content of the CBS News interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyi was reduced to incorrect conclusions to promote false narratives.

In fact, in an interview, Zelenskyi, answering a question about faith in the possibility of Ukraine returning all territories, including Crimea, emphasized that with sufficient support from partners, as well as a complete economic blockade of Russia, Ukraine will be able to restore its territorial integrity not only through military means. He expressed confidence that Russia’s defeat will lead to the loss of its support even by states that doubt Ukraine and will weaken positions within Russia itself, which will force it to dialogue. Zelenskyi called an important condition for such a dialogue the liberation of Ukrainian territories and the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine within the annexation of Crimea by Russia.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to discredit the President and cause a split in Ukrainian society. Detector Media previously refuted other Russian lies about Zelenskyi.