“We have support not only among partners in the world, but also among Putin’s entourage – regarding peace,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday. “They understand what is happening there and that peace has no alternative.”
He made the claim at his evening briefing, and he did not name anyone. Russia had not yet commented, and the war makes independent checking difficult.
Zelenskyy added that this mood would only spread inside Russia, according to RBC-Ukraine. He said Kyiv has put forward proposals on how to bring peace closer.
Gasoline and long-range strikes
The same briefing turned to fuel. Zelenskyy said Russia faces a worsening gasoline “crisis” and called it a justified consequence of Moscow’s refusal to end the war. Ukrainian long-range strikes, he said, have reached several regions inside Russia as well as military targets in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine. He promised to widen Kyiv’s strike capabilities further.
To that end he announced a new special command within the Armed Forces, “a command of long-range, in fact – global influence on Russia during this war.”
“This command must concentrate one hundred percent of available resources in order to further significantly reduce Russia’s war potential,” he said.
What Reuters and Sybiha said
The claim sits next to another report. According to Reuters sources, advisers to Putin proposed ending the war along the current front line, but the Russian leader turned the idea down because he still wants the whole Donbas region.
Zelenskyy has said before that freezing the front line would be the fastest route to peace with Russia. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has called Kyiv’s proposal for ending the war a realistic option for Putin, and said it would give the Kremlin a chance to avoid the collapse of its regime.
Sources
- Zelenskyy claims some in Putin’s inner circle support ending war
- Some in Putin's camp support Ukraine on ending war, Zelenskyy says
