VIENNA, November 5. /TASS/. An increasing number of Western leaders are acknowledging that Vladimir Zelensky is hindering a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, Yulia Zhdanova, head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, said.

"More and more Western leaders are recognizing that Vladimir Zelensky is openly obstructing peace," she said at a regular plenary meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation in Vienna.

According to the Russian diplomat, protractive the conflict is the only way for Zelensky and his regime "to hold on to power and ensure their own security."