MOSCOW, April 1 (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy should have taken the difficult decision to withdraw his forces from the Donbas area “yesterday” in order to end what it called the “hot phase” of the war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comment a day after Zelenskiy said Russia had told the United States it would harden its terms for a peace settlement if Ukrainian forces did not withdraw from Donbas within two months.
Peskov did not respond directly when asked if there was a two-month deadline, saying this was not the point.
“Zelenskiy must make a decision today for Ukrainian troops to leave the territory of Donbas… This has been stated repeatedly,” he told reporters.
“And, in theory, Zelenskiy should have made this decision yesterday. As we have said, he should have taken responsibility and made this difficult decision. This could save the lives of many people and, most importantly, allow an end to the hot phase of this war.”
Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he was surprised anyone could believe that Russia could hope to conquer the remainder of Donbas within two months. He said Ukraine wanted a diplomatic solution but would only agree to a ceasefire at the current front lines.
(Reporting by Reuters Writing by Mark Trevelyan Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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