Zelensky on Putin's article: 'It's nice that a person knows Ukrainian'

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, Zelensky said this at a press conference held as part of the All-Ukrainian Forum "Ukraine 30. Humanitarian Policy."

He said he was ready to provide Putin with materials for another article and discuss with him the theses that have already been published.

"It's nice that a person knows the Ukrainian language. [...] If the president of the Russian Federation started writing in Ukrainian, then we are doing everything right," Zelensky said.

He added that he did not have time to read the whole article due to his tight schedule, but the parts he read made a certain impression. "I saw some deep work there. Indeed, the president of the Russian Federation spent a lot of time, because there is a lot of archival work there. I can only envy that the president of such a big state can afford to spend so much time on such a volume, such detailed work," Zelensky said.

He noted that a lot of time was now being spent on talk about a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine. "We are constantly talking about our meeting – between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia. Now the Russian president does not have enough time. I just don't know what he's spending his time on. And now I see the result. But it seems to me that we could have talked about some things and the things he wrote about. I would provide him with a lot of material that could be used in another article in the future," Zelensky added.

Regarding the thesis from the Russian Federation that Ukrainians and Russians are a "brotherly people," Zelensky said: "They forget us when we talk about the victory over fascism, about the Second World War and about how many Ukrainian lives were lost. In other cases, they recall that we are a brotherly people. I will say in Russian: This is not brotherly to do so. It's more like Cain and Abel. Therefore, we will definitely analyze this article as soon as I find the time."

On July 12, Putin published an article "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians." The article was published in Russian and Ukrainian on the official websites of the Russian Federation.

The article begins with Putin's constant claim that "Russians and Ukrainians are one people." At the same time, the author states that he sees the "wall that has emerged in recent years between Russia and Ukraine" as "our great common misfortune and tragedy." He said that these were the consequences of "his own mistakes made at different periods of time" and this was also the result of "deliberate efforts by those forces that have always sought to undermine our unity."

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