Kremlin, asked about its Donbas demands, says Ukraine should have pulled out ‘yesterday’

MOSCOW, April 1 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had to make the difficult decision “yesterday” to withdraw his forces from the Donbas region to end what he called the “hot phase” of the war, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comment a day after Zelenskiy said Russia had told the United States it would toughen the terms of the peace deal if Ukrainian forces did not withdraw from Donbas within two months.

When asked if there was a two-month period, Peskov did not answer directly and said that was not the point.

“Zelenskiy must make a decision today about the departure of Ukrainian troops from the territory of Donbas… This has been stated many times,” he told reporters.

“And in theory, Zelenskiy should have made this decision yesterday. As we said, he should have taken responsibility and made this difficult decision. This could have saved many lives and, most importantly, allowed the hot phase of this war to end.”

Zelenskiy said Tuesday that he was “surprised that anyone could believe that Russia could hope to conquer the rest of Donbas in two months.” He said Ukraine wanted a diplomatic solution but would only agree to a ceasefire on existing front lines.

(Reuters Written by Mark Trevelyan Writing by Andrew Osborn Editing)