[ Anchor
Lead] Ukrainian President Zelensky, who made a surprise visit to the United States, also visited his country's ally Poland on his way home.
Russian President Putin even first used the expression 'war' when he warned that the United States would destroy Patriot missiles that were supposed to be given to Ukraine.
Shin Jeong-eun is a reporter.
[ Reporter
] Ukrainian President Zelensky, who was promised massive aid from the United States, met with President Andrzej Duda in a visit to Poland on the border.
[Andrzej Duda/President of Poland: Nice to meet you.
How have you been?
(How are you? Thank you very much.)]
Poland hosted the largest number of Ukrainian refugees during the war and was the second most donated country after the United States.
The two leaders said they discussed strategic plans for the future at the meeting.
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On the other hand, President Putin downplayed President Zelensky's visit to the United States.
He undermined the Patriot air defense missiles the U.S. had agreed to support in Ukraine, warning that the Patriots would be destroyed if deployed.
[Vladimir Putin/Russian President: (US) Patriot air defense missiles are outdated and do not work like Russia's S-300 defense system.
These measures are only intended to incite conflict.]
At the same time, he repeatedly revealed the principled position that "the sooner the war ends, the better, and Russia has never given up on negotiations."
This is the first time President Putin has used the expression 'war', which he has always referred to as a 'special military operation' to prevent the Russian people's anxiety from growing after the invasion of Ukraine.
For this reason, there is also an analysis that Russia's war strategy is changing as the war with Ukraine lasts longer than expected.
A Russian Kremlin spokesman criticized Zelensky's visit to the United States as evidence that the United States is, in effect, waging a proxy war through Ukraine.
(Video editing: Byungjik Kim)