Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must make a difficult decision to withdraw Ukrainian forces from the territory of Donbas "today."
At a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov responded to Zelenskyy's claim that Russia demanded a two-month withdrawal from Donbas or its negotiating position would change, saying Moscow has repeatedly demanded Ukrainian forces leave the Donetsk region.
"As for the two months… the issue is not about two months. Zelenskyy must make the decision today for Ukrainian troops to leave the territory of Donbas and withdraw beyond the administrative borders of the Donetsk People's Republic (Russian name for the region)," Peskov said.
"This has been stated repeatedly. Ideally, Zelenskyy should have made such a decision yesterday — as we have said — to take responsibility and make this difficult decision," he added.
Peskov explained that the pause in peace talks with Ukraine is due to the involvement of American negotiators in the Middle East conflict. "For obvious reasons, they cannot currently be actively engaged in the trilateral negotiation process on Ukrainian matters."
In 2026, Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of US-mediated peace talks. The process was interrupted by the US decision to launch a military operation in the Middle East.
