Mr. Zelensky accused Russia of wanting to spark a coup in Ukraine.

Ông Zelensky cáo buộc Nga muốn châm ngòi đảo chính ở Ukraine - 1 — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine).

In an interview with Bloomberg , President Zelensky accused Russia of trying to sow division in Ukrainian society, creating "chaos" in the country.

"Our intelligence and partners have information (about the allegations)," Mr. Zelensky said.

According to the Ukrainian leader, Russia is accused of planning to spread disinformation in an operation codenamed "Maidan 3." Maidan is Kiev's central square, which was the focus of protests in 2004 and the 2014 coup that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.

"For them (Russia), Maidan was a coup so this operation is understandable," he said, accusing Russia's ultimate goal of trying to remove Mr Zelensky from office.

Russia has not commented on Mr Zelensky's accusations.

On the evening of November 7, two videos appeared on Ukrainian social networks calling on the Ukrainian army to march towards Kiev and talking about internal conflicts in Ukraine. The videos were later found to contain fake information edited with technology.

The 2004 protests on Maidan Square were peaceful and successfully overturned Mr Yanukovich's victory in that year's presidential race.

On the other hand, the 2014 protests that occurred while Mr Yanukovich was in office forced him to flee the country and resign after violence broke out. Following this event, two regions in Donbass declared secession from Ukraine, while Russia held a referendum to annex the Crimean peninsula.

The Russia-Ukraine war is about to enter its 22nd month, but the prospects for negotiations between the two sides continue to be deadlocked. Western allies and partners have pledged to continue to provide aid to Kiev until needed, despite opinions that their resources are exhausted and they are also starting to tire of the Ukrainian conflict.

During the early stages of the conflict, the two sides also negotiated, but this activity has stalled for more than a year because the two countries set very different preconditions.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 8 that Ukraine and the United States need to understand that it will be impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield and that negotiations are essential.

Moscow has repeatedly stated its readiness for negotiations, but on condition that Ukraine acknowledges "new territorial realities".

The new reality that Moscow refers to is the annexation of the territories of Zaporizhia, Kherson, Lugansk, Donetsk to Russia last October and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 after referendums.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said peace talks would only take place when Russia withdrew all troops from Ukrainian territory, including Crimea.

In addition, Ukraine wants any peace talks to be based on the 10-point "peace formula" proposed by President Zelensky late last year, which includes a provision that Russia must pay reparations for the war. However, Moscow has rejected Kiev's plan, saying it is unrealistic.

Source