Russian officials mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s trip to the US during the conflict on Thursday, saying in several statements that his quick stopover to shore up support in Washington was evidence that he and his American allies weren’t “striving for peace” in Ukraine.
On a hastily planned trip on Wednesday, Zelenskyy earned tremendous acclaim from members of Congress.
This was his first known journey outside Ukraine since Russian troops invaded the nation on February 24.
The United States announced a new $1.8 billion military aid package hours before the president arrived.
Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, issued a warning that arming Zelenskyy’s soldiers with more advanced weapons would not end the fight, which has resulted in Russian airstrikes on civilian water and power sources and tedious, largely stalemated ground battles for territory.
During Zelenskyy’s visit to the United States, Moscow did not hear “genuine cries for peace.”
According to Peskov, Moscow believes Washington is prepared to “de facto and indirectly battle with Russia until the last Ukrainian.” The “barbaric bombardment of residential houses” by Ukraine in Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine was also slammed by him.
The Ukrainian shelling of a hotel in the city of Donetsk on Wednesday night resulted in the deaths of two people and the injuries of numerous others, including a former Russian deputy prime minister, according to the leader of the partially occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine who Moscow installed.
According to Russian state media, a local official designated by the Kremlin was killed by a car bomb on Thursday in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces and Ukrainian forces are engaged in heavy combat over control of four districts, and the casualties show just how high the stakes are.
Zelenskyy, according to information he shared on social media, arrived in Poland on Thursday while en route back to Ukraine.
On his way home, he met “a buddy of Ukraine,” according to his writing.
He was seen in a video being welcomed by Polish officials after stepping off the plane. He embraced Polish President Andrzej Duda, greeted him, and sat down to talk.
The previous day, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, echoed Dmitry Peskov’s pessimistic assessment of the Ukrainian president’s trip, claiming that the meetings in Washington “showed that neither Ukraine nor the United States is fighting for peace.”
They have no plans to end hostilities, according to Zakharova.
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