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The Kremlin on Wednesday hit back at US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on the Russia-Ukraine war, where he blamed Moscow for not ending the conflict.
Trump on Tuesday said he believed Ukraine could retake all its land controlled by Russia and that Kyiv should act now, with Moscow facing “big” economic problems, in a sudden and striking rhetorical shift in Ukraine’s favour.
Calling Russia a "paper tiger", Trump said, “We have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up. It’s pretty amazing, actually,” as he had Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by his side.
Reacting to Trump’s ‘paper tiger’ remark, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “Russia is not a tiger but is more associated with a bear. Paper bears don’t exist.”
Peskov acknowledged the shift in Trump’s rhetoric in favour of Zelenskyy, but said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would hold talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later on Wednesday and set out Russia’s stance.
In a post on Truth Social shortly after meeting Zelenskyy, Trump said that he believed, after getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine-Russia military and economic situation, that he thought Ukraine, with the support of the European Union (EU), was in a fight and win all of Ukraine back and restore pre-2022 borders.
‘No alternative’
“We are continuing our special military operation to ensure our interests and achieve the goals,” set by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, using Moscow’s term for its assault on Ukraine.
“We are doing this for both the present and the future of our country. For many generations to come. Therefore, we have no alternative,” he added in a radio interview with a Russian newspaper.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe Kremlin also offered a downbeat assessment of wider efforts to boost relations between Moscow and Washington.
A rapprochement ushered in when Trump returned to the White House in January has yielded “close to zero” results, Peskov said.
“This track is sluggish, very sluggish,” he said of the efforts to reset ties.
With inputs from agencies
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