Why Putin Fears Meeting Zelensky

Putin once mocked Zelensky as an unqualified entertainer leading a fake country. But after three years of full-scale war, Zelensky has emerged as a symbol of resistance, winning global admiration.  If the two men sit down as equals, it would be a powerful image: the former comic and the career spy, both heading sovereign states.

That alone undermines Putin’s narrative that Ukraine isn’t real.

.To meet Zelensky is to acknowledge him as Ukraine’s legitimate leader. That cuts directly against the Kremlin’s original claim that Ukraine is run by Nazis and puppets.

For Russian citizens who believed the propaganda, seeing Putin treat Zelensky as a peer could look like surrender.

Putin Fears Meeting Zelensky: Three-Way Summit Would Expose His War as a Failure

It’s a risk the Russian president may not be willing to take.