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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Zelenskyy sees no pressure to freeze war as Putin presses on

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walks past a Lithuanian military honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Wednesday.  (Petras Malukas/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS)
By Aliaksandr Kudrytski and Milda Seputyte Bloomberg News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he so far doesn’t feel pressure from his nation’s allies to reach a ceasefire with Russia as Vladimir Putin shows no signs of any willingness to stop the war.

“The Russian president won’t calm down until he ruins Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Wednesday at the start of a tour of the Baltic states.

With the war approaching now its third year, Russia has resumed its large-scale missile attacks against Ukraine, targeting cities including the capital, Kyiv. Kremlin forces launched the strikes as political divisions in the U.S. and the European Union have delayed the approval of $100 billion in vital aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy spoke after signing contracts on military cooperation with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. The two leaders also agreed to begin talks on bilateral security guarantees, commitments that Ukraine is seeking from its Western partners to help counter Russian aggression.

The Ukrainian leader is also planning to visit the capitals of neighboring Latvia and Estonia to discuss issues such as his country’s NATO integration and cooperation on electronic warfare and drones.