Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is currently visiting the US this week to strengthen international support for Kiev, said that Russia can only be forced to negotiate a peace settlement and he refused to give in to Moscow's demands.
However, Now the Kremlin has come forward to reject the Zelenskyy’s comment at the United Nations, saying that "forcing" Russia into peace talk would be a "fatal mistake.”
“Such a position is a fatal mistake, a systemic mistake,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in the statement on Wednesday.
He continued, "It is a profound misconception that will inevitably have consequences for the Kiev regime. Russia is in favour of peace, but with the conditions that its stability is ensured and the objectives of the special military operation are fulfilled.”
"Without the achievement of these goals, it is impossible to coerce Russia,” Peskov said in Moscow's official language for the Ukraine campaign.
On Tuesday, Zelenskyy told the UN that, “We know some in the world want to talk" to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Russia can only be forced into peace, and that is exactly what's needed - forcing Russia into peace," he added.
It has been more than two and a half years now since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, yet the two sides seem no closer to reaching a peace agreement.
