Russia Ukraine war, page-229442

Actually, Zels was ready to talk to Russia and, it appears, sign a deal with them.

Then, Boris made a flying overnight visit to Kyiv and the rest is history.

We have no idea what was promised to Zels. Zels though was guilty of gross stupidity, in hindsight. Without western boots on the ground, Ukr had zero chance against Russia. What he should have done was insisted on a written agreement with a minimum number of western troops on the ground.

In this event, there would have been no war as the west would never have agreed to troops in Ukr.