Putin promised not to kill Ukraine’s Zelenskyy: Ex-Israeli prime minister

By Zain Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to him last March that he would not kill his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In a radio interview, Bennett said he had asked Putin during a meeting between them whether he intended to kill Zelenskyy.

According to the former premier, the Russian president had pledged at the time that he would not kill his Ukrainian counterpart.

Bennett said that after his meeting with Putin, he called Zelenskyy and told him that the Russian leader had promised not to kill him.

“Zelenskyy then asked me 'are you sure?' and I told him 'Yes, 100 percent, he won't kill you," Bennett added.

The former Israeli prime minister said that Putin also pledged during the meeting that he would not work for Ukraine's disarmament.

According to Bennett, Zelenskyy agreed at that time to abandon Ukraine's accession to NATO.

“Everything I did was coordinated with the US, Germany and France,” he added.

Bennett secretly met Putin in the Kremlin on March 5 last year, days after Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

Last year, Russia launched a war on Ukraine, which was met with international outrage, with the European Union, G-7, US, and UK among others imposing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

To end the war, Russia requires Ukraine's abandonment of any plans to join military entities, including NATO, and its commitment to maintain neutrality, which Kyiv considers interference in its affairs.

* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report