Russia says Zelensky's Washington visit 'complete political and diplomatic failure'

Russia on Saturday termed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the United States as a "complete political and diplomatic failure" of the Kyiv regime.

Moscow's reaction came after Zelensky's public showdown with US President Donald Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office grabbed headlines all over the world.

"The Russian side has repeatedly stated at all levels that V. Zelensky is inappropriate, corrupt and incapable of reaching an agreement. It was the Kyiv regime that refused to continue negotiations on a political and diplomatic settlement in the spring of 2022, using lies and manipulation to justify the continuation of hostilities and the receipt of Western military and financial assistance," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

"With his outrageously boorish behavior during his stay in Washington, V. Zelensky confirmed that he is the most dangerous threat to the world community as an irresponsible instigator of a major war. Everyone should understand how unambiguous such attacks sound from the leader of terrorists," Zakharova added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson went to on to describe Zelensky as a "cynic who disdains nothing" and someone who is "obsessed only with preserving the power he has usurped".

"For this purpose, he has destroyed the opposition, built a totalitarian state and mercilessly sends millions of his fellow citizens to their deaths. In the current political conditions, which are increasingly worsening for the Kyiv regime, this figure is incapable of showing a sense of responsibility and is therefore obsessed with continuing the war, rejecting peace, which for him is like death," stated Zakharova.

Moscow said that the "dressing down" given to Zelensky in the White House was unprecedented in the history of international politics and diplomacy.

"As before, we proceed from the fact that a truly fair and sustainable achievement of peace is possible only with the complete elimination of the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis. The main ones were the West's violation of promises not to expand NATO and the absorption by the alliance of the entire geopolitical space of Europe up to the Russian borders, as well as the systemic liquidation by the Kyiv regime, like the German Nazis of the past, of everything Russian: language, culture, church," read the statement issued by the foreign ministry.