'One-finger salute': Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry sharply responds to Peskov’s remark
Photo: Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Moscow is openly ignoring calls from the US to halt hostilities. The Kremlin, instead, speaks of a "strategic advantage" and vows not to stop, according to a statement by Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi on Twitter (X).
Today, the press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, claimed that Russia supposedly has the upper hand on the battlefield and therefore has no intention of stopping.
"Now we have a strategic advantage. Why should we lose it? We are not going to lose it. We’re going further. We are advancing and will continue to advance," he said.
In response, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry emphasized that, against the backdrop of US calls for an immediate end to the killings, Peskov’s remarks come across as a "one-finger salute."
"US: calls for an immediate end to the killing. Peskov: one-finger salute. The longer Russians believe they will be able to avoid consequences for bluntly rejecting US peace efforts, the more they will make the US appear weak," Tykhyi noted.
Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia
Earlier today, Peskov stated that the Russian Federation has no intention of agreeing to a ceasefire with Ukraine, allegedly because it "has a strategic advantage."
Ukraine and Russia have already held two rounds of negotiations in Istanbul. However, US representatives were not present at the meetings, even though Washington had been pushing for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
As political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko pointed out, it was the US that initiated direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, but then stepped aside.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that it was the Russian side that did everything possible to push the United States out of the negotiation process in Istanbul.
Trump shifts rhetoric on Putin
Recently, US leader Donald Trump, who had previously supported Moscow’s mediation role in the Middle East conflict, advised Russian President Vladimir Putin to first end the war that Russia started in Ukraine.
