Kremlin dismisses Zelensky's demands
The “three steps” that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky urged the country’s foreign supporters to take to help Kiev will result in continued hostilities in his country, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
“Those are three steps towards continued military action,” Peskov said on Tuesday.
Zelensky outlined the measures to members of the G7 club of nations in a virtual address on Monday. The steps included sending Ukraine more advanced arms, such as tanks and longer-range missiles, providing an extra 2 billion cubic meters of gas to get through the winter, and using diplomacy to help Kiev achieve its goals in the conflict with Russia.
The latter part refers to a ten-step ‘peace formula’ that Zelensky explained in a virtual address to the summit of G20 leaders in Indonesia last month. It requires that Russia meet a number of Ukrainian demands, including relinquishing all lands that Kiev considers to be under its own sovereignty.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the time that Zelensky’s speech to the G20 was full of “militant, Russophobic and aggressive rhetoric” and simply confirmed that Kiev has no intention of resuming peace talks.
US President Joe Biden, who pledged to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia on the battlefield, welcomed Zelensky’s “stated openness to a just peace based on fundamental principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter,” according to a statement released by the White House on Tuesday.
On Monday, Peskov said that Kiev should comply with the “new reality” and take into account that Russia incorporated several territories following referendums. Four former Ukrainian regions voted to join Russia this autumn, and Crimea did the same in 2014 after a coup in Kiev.
Moscow has warned on numerous occasions that pumping Western weapons into Ukraine will only prolong the conflict but will not alter the outcome.
