MOSCOW, April 1 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should have made the difficult decision to withdraw troops from the Donbas region “yesterday” to end what it called the “intense phase” of the war, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s comments came a day after Zelensky said Russia had told the United States it would strengthen the conditions for a peace settlement if Ukrainian troops did not withdraw from Donbas within two months.
Asked if there was a two-month deadline, Peskov did not respond directly, saying it was not the point.
“Zelensky must take a decision today to allow Ukrainian troops to leave the territory of Donbass… This has been said many times,” he told reporters.
“And, in theory, Zelensky should have made this decision yesterday. As we said, he should take responsibility and make this difficult decision. This could save many lives and, most importantly, end the intense phase of this war.”
Zelensky said on Tuesday he was surprised that anyone believed Russia wanted to conquer the rest of Donbas within two months. He said Ukraine wanted a diplomatic solution but would only agree to a ceasefire on current front lines.
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan, editing by Andrew Osborne)