Russia will end its war on Ukraine as soon as Kyiv surrenders, the Kremlin said Tuesday as Western leaders searched for new ways to amp up economic pressure on Moscow.
“The Ukrainian side can end everything before the end of today,” the state-run TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying to reporters.
“An order for the nationalist units to lay down their arms is necessary,” he said, adding that Ukraine would also need to adhere to a list of Moscow’s demands.
Peskov’s statement follows comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday at the ongoing G7 summit, where he urged the West to help Ukraine end the war “before winter sets in.”
The G7 leaders pledged to support Kyiv for “as long as it takes” and are weighing more punitive measures against Russia’s economy.
Peskov said Russia doesn’t have a set timeline for when its “special military operation” will end and described Zelensky’s statement as merely “thoughts of the head of the Ukrainian state.”
“We are guided solely by the statements made by our president [who says that] the special military operation is going according to plan and is achieving the set goals,” Peskov said.
President Vladimir Putin launched what he describes as a “special military operation” to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The war continues to drag on over four months later, with fierce fighting concentrated in eastern Ukraine after Russia’s failed attempt to capture Kyiv.
