Zelenskyy calls Putin 'dumbass', accuses him of 'not caring about human lives'

As the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war continues to escalate, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “dumbass”. The scathing remarks from the Ukrainian leader came as he reacted to Putin’s latest remarks on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“People are dying, and he thinks it’s “interesting”… Dumbass,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, captioning the video of Putin talking about the war. The Russian leader was addressing his annual televised press conference, in which he claimed that Russia’s Oreshnik missile cannot be intercepted by air defences and urged the West and Ukraine to “conduct a technological experiment.”

“Let’s call it a high-tech duel of the 21st century. Let them determine some site to hit, let’s say in Kyiv, concentrate all their air defences there, and we will strike there with the Oreshnik and see what happens,” Putin said. “It’s interesting," he remarked.

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People are dying, and he thinks it’s “interesting”... Dumbass. pic.twitter.com/JyJ9ok0fok

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 19, 2024

Zelenskyy calls Putin ‘dangerous’

The Ukrainian leader also slammed his Russian counterpart while delivering a speech at the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday. Referring to Putin as a “Russian dictator,” Zelenskyy called him a “very dangerous man”. “I think Putin is very dangerous, he doesn’t care about human lives … I think he is crazy, really,” Zelenskyy said after meeting with European heads of government. “He loves to kill.”

Meanwhile, during his press briefing, Putin expressed his readiness for discussion with US President-elect Donald Trump regarding the war. He said that he is ready to meet Trump “any time,” while acknowledging regret over not launching Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine earlier.

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“If we ever have a meeting with President-elect Trump, I am sure we’ll have a lot to talk about,” Putin said, emphasizing Russia’s openness to “negotiations and compromises,". While addressing the European summit, Zelenskyy urged both the European Union and Trump to secure a durable peace deal between the two nations.

“I believe that the European guarantees won’t be sufficient for Ukraine,” he said after talks with his EU counterparts. Zelenskyy mentioned that he was supportive of an initiative mooted by French President Emmanuel Macron to potentially deploy Western troops – but it needed to be fleshed out. “If we are talking about a contingent, we need to be specific – how many, what they will do if there is aggression from Russia,” he furthered.

With inputs from agencies.