The Kremlin has called for someone to force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to make peace following a heated clash with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on February 28. The confrontation underscored the difficulties in finding a resolution to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
During the meeting, Trump accused Zelensky of disrespecting the United States, losing the war, and risking World War III. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the incident, stating, “The Kyiv regime and Zelensky do not want peace. They want the war to continue.”
Peskov emphasized the need for someone to make Zelensky change his position, suggesting that if European leaders could achieve this, they should be honored and praised.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been ongoing since 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, marking the most significant confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War. The tensions date back to 2014 when Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and supported separatists in the eastern Donbas region.
Peskov noted that Putin was familiar with the “unprecedented event” in the Oval Office, which he claimed demonstrated Zelensky’s lack of diplomatic skills. Currently, Russia controls just under a fifth of Ukraine, while Ukraine has seized about 450 square kilometers of Russian territory in the Kursk province.
Following the Oval Office clash, European leaders rallied to Zelensky’s defense. At a summit in London on March 2, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a new £1.6 billion deal to allow Ukraine to purchase 5,000 air-defense missiles and revealed plans to present a Ukraine peace plan to the United States.
The Kremlin criticized the London summit, describing it as an attempt to continue the war rather than seek peace. Peskov pointed out the fragmentation within the collective West, with some countries supporting continued backing for Ukraine.
The West and Ukraine view Russia’s 2022 invasion as an imperial-style land grab, while Putin frames the conflict as part of an existential battle with a declining West that has humiliated Russia since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Despite the tensions, Peskov stated that Russia would continue its dialogue with Washington on bilateral ties and press on with its “special military operation” in Ukraine. When asked about Trump’s remarks on his communications with Putin, Peskov clarified that there had been no public contacts beyond a February 12 phone call.