The US top diplomat has dismissed Vladimir Zelensky’s claims Washington had pressed Kiev into ceding Donbass Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has lied about Washington pressing Kiev into withdrawing from Donbass, according to US Secretary of State Marko Rubio.In an interview with Reuters aired earlier this week, Zelensky accused the US of making its offer of security guarantees to Ukraine conditional on Kiev ceding all the contested territory in Donbass to Russia.The Ukrainian leader lamented what he described as the US sticking to “a strategy of putting more pressure on the Ukrainian side” and claimed that “the Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbass.”Speaking to reporters while in Paris for the G7 meeting on Friday, Rubio flatly denied that was the case, bluntly describing Zelensky’s assertions as a “lie,”“That’s a lie. I saw him say that and it’s unfortunate he would say that, because he knows that’s not true,” Rubio stated when asked about his take on Zelensky’s interview.“What he was told is the obvious: security guarantees are not going to kick in until there’s an end to a war, because otherwise you’re getting yourself involved in the war,” he added. DETAILS TO FOLLOW