Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated that the “three steps” that Ukrainian President Zelensky urged the country’s foreign supporters to take in order to help Kiev would result in continued hostilities in his country.
Zelensky’s request was made to the supporters of the country who are located outside of Ukraine.
On Monday, Zelensky delivered a virtual presentation to the members of a G7 group of countries, in which he explained the steps. The initiatives included supplying an additional 2 billion m³ of gas for the duration of the winter, transferring more modern armaments to Ukraine such as tanks or longer-range missiles, as well as using diplomacy to assist Kiev in achieving its aims in the confrontation with Russia.
The final section relates to a ten-step “peace formula” that Zelensky presented in a virtual presentation to the meeting of G20 leaders that took place in Indonesia the previous month. It necessitates that Russia complies with a number of requests made by the Ukrainian government, one of which is the ceding of all territories that Kiev deems to fall under its own jurisdiction.
At the time, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said that Zelensky’s statement to the G20 is full of “militant, Russophobic, and confrontational language,” and that it just showed that they had no intention of beginning peace negotiations.
According to a statement that was released by the White House on Tuesday, US Vice President Joe Biden welcomed Zelensky’s “stated openness to a fair peace based on the fundamental defining in the UN Charter.” Biden made a commitment to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia in a military conflict. Zelensky’s comments were cited in the statement.
Peskov said on Monday that Kiev should adjust its policies to accommodate the “new reality” and take into consideration the fact that Russia has annexed a number of areas subsequent to referendums. After a revolution in 2014, Crimea and four other formerly Ukrainian regions decided to join Russia this fall, and Crimea had already done so in 2014.
Moscow has issued many warnings to the effect that providing Ukraine with Western weaponry would simply serve to prolong the conflict and will not affect the final result.