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Russia regrets no calls for peace were made during Zelensky’s visit to US — Kremlin

The Kremlin closely followed Zelensky's visit to Washington, "getting acquainted with all the information coming in"

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Moscow regrets that the leaders of the United States and Ukraine show no willingness to heed Russia's concerns and that Washington does nothing to prevent Kiev from continuing its barbaric shellings of Donbass, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the results of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to the US.

"For the time being, we can state with regret that neither President Biden, nor President Zelensky have said anything that could be perceived as their potential readiness to listen to Russia's concerns," Peskov said.

"Not a single word was said to warn Mr. Zelensky against continuing the barbaric shellings of homes in Donbass communities," Peskov stressed. He also noted that "There were no calls for peace - not in front of TV cameras, but real ones. This indicates that the United States continues its policy of de facto and proxy war with Russia to the last Ukrainian."

The Kremlin closely followed Zelensky's visit to Washington, "getting acquainted with all the information coming in."

On December 21, Zelensky spent several hours in Washington at Biden’s invitation. He met with the US president and the leadership of the US Congress and delivered a speech there. Speaking at a press conference, Biden said that in his opinion the Ukrainian president was "open to pursuing a just peace" in Ukraine, and argued that the Russian authorities, in his opinion, had "no intention of stopping" hostilities. When asked what his idea of a "just peace" was, Zelensky explained that this meant no compromises regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Biden said that he saw eye to eye with Zelensky and speculated there would be peace if Russia withdrew its troops, but "that’s not going to happen now." Zelensky also added that at the moment he was unable to send any messages to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ahead of Zelensky's visit the US announced a new military aid package totaling $1.85 billion. For the first time, it included a battery of the Patriot air defense system (the truck-mounted launcher, radar and control station).