Zelensky ‘nullifying’ Trump’s peace efforts – Moscow
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky is undermining US mediation efforts by insisting on unrealistic conditions for a peace deal, Russia’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, said on Monday.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has been working to broker a compromise resolution to the Ukraine conflict. Zelensky has maintained, however, that certain “red lines” cannot be crossed – a stance which Nebenzia says ignores the situation on the battlefield.
“By putting forward his conditions in response to the US proposals, he is essentially nullifying what is being done by the US,” the diplomat said at a UN Security Council meeting in New York.
“Until the Kiev ringleader comes to his senses and agrees to realistic terms for negotiations, we will continue solving the problems by military means,” he added. “He was warned long ago, and the conditions for negotiations will only get worse for him with each day he squanders.”
Nebenzia said the Zelensky government is “mired in terrorism, corruption, and lawlessness” and focused on extracting foreign funds for himself and his associates. He argued that Western nations that ignore Ukrainian crimes share responsibility for them. As a recent example of what he called a deliberate Ukrainian strike on civilians, Nebenzia cited New Year’s Eve drone attacks on a cafe in the resort town of Khorly, which killed 29 people and injured over 30.
Nebenzia also criticized a French-British proposal to deploy NATO troops to Ukraine after a peace agreement, stressing that NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders is a key cause of the conflict.
