The Kremlin agrees with Trump that Zelensky is the biggest obstacle to peace in Ukraine

Moscow.- The Kremlin today agreed with the statements of the U.S. President, Donald Trump, that the main obstacle to peace in Ukraine is the leader of that country, Volodymyr Zelensky. “On that we can agree. It is indeed so,” said Dmitri Peskov, presidential spokesman, in his first telephone press conference of 2026. Peskov reacted this way to the statements in which Trump considered that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has shown more willingness than Zelensky to accept the US peace plan.

“The situation is worsening every day for the Kyiv regime. We have already said this. And the window for decision-making is closing,” the spokesman pointed out.

Regarding this, Moscow did not want to confirm that Moscow is in favor of the deployment of foreign troops on the territory of the neighboring country, if these include the countries of the Global South, such as China. The spokesperson also expressed confidence that the emissaries of the White House Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will soon hold consultations in the Kremlin with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.

“President Putin and the Russian side maintain their disposition (…) That stance is consistent,” he stressed.

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The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, recalled the day before that Putin received Witkoff on six occasions in 2025 to address the peaceful settlement in Ukraine. “No solid and lasting peace can be expected” if the ways to address the “original causes” of the conflict are not agreed upon, Lavrov underlined. Russia refuses to stop fighting in Ukraine, a territory it has been intensely bombing in recent weeks, which has left millions of people with limited access to electricity and heating in the midst of the harsh winter.