ISTANBUL

A Ukrainian presidential aide on Sunday said comments made by Israel's former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on mediating between Kyiv and Moscow are “fiction.”

“Ex-official's claims on ‘mediation’ that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin allegedly gave ‘guarantees not to kill’ and ‘the West interrupted promising negotiations’ are fiction,” Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.

Podolyak said Russia’s “special military operation” is not about NATO expansion, security guarantees or sanctions, but rather based on Moscow’s desire to “destroy Ukraine and kill Ukrainians.”

Before launching its war last February, Putin had called for no more NATO enlargement, no missile deployments near its borders, and a scaling back of NATO's military infrastructure in Europe to 1997 levels.

Separately, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also commented on the issue, saying Putin is “an expert liar.”

“In the past, Putin has made promises not to occupy Crimea, not to violate Minsk agreements, not to invade Ukraine, yet he has done all of these things. Do not be fooled: he is an expert liar. Every time he has promised not to do something, it has been exactly part of his plan,” Kuleba said.

Bennett said in an interview earlier on Sunday that Putin gave him assurances during mediatory talks that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would not be killed by Russia.