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Behind the Story Podcast: Zelensky's Irish visit as peace talks continue

The Government confirmed early on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Dublin tomorrow.

Ahead of the visit, Political Coverage Editor Joe Mag Raollaigh outlines the schedule for President Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska, and the large security operation that has swung into place.

Mr Zelensky is expected to address a sitting of the Joint Houses of the Oireachtas and meet President Catherine Connolly.

Later, host Jackie Fox is joined by Christopher Miller, Chief Ukraine Correspondent with the Financial Times.

Mr Miller discusses the flurry of diplomatic activity that is taking place in Europe and in the US.

"He [Zelensky] is doing the European rounds now to try to both brief them on what was discussed between his delegation and the Americans, and to try to get them to use what leverage they have to help get this deal as strong as possible for Kyiv before the Americans fly over to Moscow and sit down with Vladimir Putin," he said.

Mr Miller said while the US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the sixth time tomorrow, he has yet to visit Ukraine.

"He thinks he’s got a good rapport with the Russian President," he said.

"The Ukrainians that I speak with here – and many Trump critics on the US side, and many European officials – believe that Steve Witkoff is getting played by the Russians.

"He doesn’t write anything down, he typically travels alone [and] he uses a translator provided to him by the Russian side.

"He tends to boil this down in his public messaging to it being a war over territory – and that couldn’t be further from the truth".

Mr Miller said Ukrainians do want to see an end to this conflict.

"People are exhausted, they’re not particularly optimistic considering Donald Trump is speaking very positively about the Russians," he said.

"It’s a really tough, cold, difficult time for Ukrainians – and they want an end to this war more than anyone".


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