DISINFO: Zelenskyy and the EU are irrelevant to negotiations, as they only obey orders
SUMMARY
Having Volodymyr Zelenskyy participating in negotiations would be an obstacle to unblock the conflict, as he is not a true actor in the conflict. It has been proven that he is another pawn of NATO and the US. And here it is clear that to unblock the Ukrainian conflict, what is needed is a US-Russia agreement, as they are the main actors in this question. What Europeans think doesn’t matter. We have seen what the role of the EU and NATO partners is, which is to obey orders, so it is redundant to have them taking part in this kind of negotiations.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative attacking the sovereignty of Ukraine and of the EU and targeting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, aiming to shape the information space ahead of an upcoming Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska in mid-August 2025. As the European Union and Ukraine have rejected any negotiation without the Ukrainians, this disinformation story aims to brush them aside by portraying them as irrelevant.
Since 2024, and especially after Donald Trump’s electoral victory in November 2024, pro-Kremlin disinformation has tried to exploit alleged discrepancies between the US and Europe regarding the war in Ukraine to portray the EU as the main obstacle for ‘peace’, in efforts to project the notion that the new US government would be more compliant to Russia’s unchanged maximalist demands in Ukraine than Europe.
The European Union is committed to achieving a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine, ensuring that Kyiv’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected. In contrast, Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine -as reflected in the growing number and intensity of air attacks in June, July and August 2025- prove that the Kremlin’s supposed embrace of peace negotiations are merely empty PR stunts deployed to garner support for Russia's war.
Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically elected president and parliament. Its independence and territorial integrity is internationally recognised by the whole world, including Russia in 1991, and its domestic and foreign policy decisions are not dictated by any external power. By describing Zelenskyy as “not being a true actor”, this disinformation story tries to erode his leadership and undermine his continuity in power. Russia has always perceived president Zelenskyy as an obstacle to its aggressive goals in Ukraine, even since before the invasion. To learn more about the pro-Kremlin smears targeting President Zelenskyy, please see our article Why is the Kremlin so hung up on smearing Zelenskyy?.
Similarly, pro-Kremlin outlets often portray European states as vassals, puppet states or colonies of the US or NATO. The European Union is a sovereign entity created by the voluntary initiative of European nations, and it has its own, independent foreign policy, while the US has no say in its decisions. EU Member States are sovereign countries and make sovereign decisions about their own internal, economic, foreign and security policies.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Europe obstructs the peace process between Ukraine and Russia, that fresh EU sanctions are a gesture for the media and show submission to the US, that Zelenskyy is increasingly irrelevant, even in Ukraine, or that there should be a UN-led government in Ukraine as Zelenskyy is toxic for peace.