"I don't think Putin wants peace at all. But this does not mean that he does not want to sit down with one of the leaders" to negotiate, Zelensky said.  "For him it destroys the political isolation that has been built since the beginning of the war. And it benefits him to sit down, talk, and not reach an agreement."The previous day, Zelensky had warned that a phone call that day between Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz – their first in nearly two years – risked opening a "Pandora's Box." In the interview with Suspilne, Zelensky said that as president, he would only be able to negotiate seriously with the President of the United States, which Donald Trump does not become until he is inaugurated in January.