Kremlin Stoops To New Lows By Saying Ukraine Can End War With 1 Move

The Kremlin has thrown Ukraine’s reminder about the Russian invasion back in Kyiv’s face by blaming the war on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s troops.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin launched an illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and now holds more than a fifth of the country’s territory.

While Donald Trump has tried – and failed – to broker peace talks, he has also rolled out the red carpet for Putin and suggested it is up to Ukraine to compromise in negotiations.

But, as Ukraine and its allies frequently point out, the entire war could be resolved if only Russia were to withdraw its troops from the occupied Ukrainian land.

To add insult to injury, it now seems the Kremlin suggests the conflict will only end if Ukraine withdraws its soldiers “from Russian territory” – referring to the illegally-annexed land.

According to Russian state news agency TASS, the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “As for Zelenskyy and ending the war by the end of the year, the war could be over by the end of the day, as we have said many times.

“To achieve this, Zelenskyy must order his armed forces to withdraw from the Russian territory.”

Putin currently occupies the peninsula of Crimea, which his forces seized in 2014, along with most of the land in the east of Ukraine – Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson – annexed over the last four years.

He has previously demanded Ukraine cede even more land in the name of peace, calling for legal recognition of the territory Russia has taken by force.

Doing so would be crossing a major red line for Ukraine.

Russia also initiated one of its largest assaults across Ukraine overnight, killing at least 21 people.

The Kremlin insisted that these strikes were targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure but Zelenskyy said civilian infrastructure and energy facilities were hit.

It’s widely believed that Putin is currently on the back foot on the battlefield, as his “meat grinder” tactics lead to mass Russian casualties.

He claimed last week that the war in Ukraine is nearing the end.

Meanwhile Zelenskyy has publicly called for negotiations to resume at the heigh of Putin’s struggles.

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.