India, March 14 -- Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday said Russian President Vladimir Putin's response to the US-backed ceasefire deal was 'highly predictable and manipulative'.

Zelenskyy claimed he was preparing to reject it.

"Right now, we have all heard from Russia Putin's highly predictable and manipulative words in response to the idea of a ceasefire on the front lines-at this moment he is, in fact, preparing to reject it," Zelenskyy posted on X.

"Of course, Putin is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war and keep killing Ukrainians," he said.

"That's why, in Moscow, they are surrounding the ceasefire idea with such preconditions that it either fails or gets dragged out for as long...