The Kremlin on Monday accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of rejecting peace efforts following his public clash with U.S. President Donald Trump.
"He doesn't want peace. Someone should make him want peace. If the Europeans do it, all kudos to them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He called Friday's tense exchange between Trump and Zelensky "an unprecedented event" and blamed Zelensky, saying he "demonstrated a complete lack of diplomatic abilities, to put it mildly."
Peskov also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was aware of the encounter and that it reinforced Moscow's stance on the war.
The Kremlin spokesman suggested that European leaders would need to smooth things over with Trump, saying: "Someone will have to make sizable efforts in dialogue with Washington in order to somehow cancel out the unpleasant residue that undoubtedly remains in the White House after talking to Zelensky."
Peskov added that "clearly, the efforts of Washington alone and the readiness of Moscow will not be enough" to end the war in Ukraine.
His comments came after Ukraine's European allies held emergency talks over the weekend in London, where Zelensky said he would work with Europe to set terms for a possible peace deal.
Peskov described the situation as "complex," claiming that "the collective West has begun to partially lose its collective unity" on Ukraine.
"Although possible peace plans are being initially sketched out, it is not possible yet to say that there is a coherent peace plan," he said.
Meanwhile, Russia is continuing its "special military operation" in Ukraine "to achieve the aims that it had from the start," Peskov added.
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