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Russia has claimed Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington proves he is not “striving for peace” in Ukraine, as it coincides with a $1.8bn military aid package to the country from the United States.
The Ukrainian president received thunderous applause from members of Congress during his short, hastily-organised trip – his first outside the country since Russian troops invaded on 24 February.
He returned to Kyiv on Thursday after a brief stop in Poland where greeted President Andrzej Duda.
The new US deal includes supplies of the Patriot air defence system, the most powerful such weapons yet promised to Ukraine.
“They say they may send Patriot there, fine, we will crack the Patriot too,” Vladimir Putin said, adding that the deliveries will only extend the fighting. “Those who do it do so in vain, it only drags out the conflict.”
Earlier, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Mr Zelensky’s trip “showed that neither Ukraine nor the United States are striving for peace”.
Andrzej Duda, left, meets Volodymyr Zelensky near Rzeszow on Thursday
(EPA)
“They are simply determined to continue hostilities,” she said.
Mr Putin reaffirmed that Russia is ready for talks on ending the conflict, though his offer has been greeted with scepticism.
“One way or another, all armed conflicts end with talks,” Mr Putin said. “The sooner this understanding comes to those who oppose us the better.”
Meanwhile, the Moscow-installed leader of Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region reported that Ukrainian shelling of a hotel in the city of Donetsk killed two people and wounded several others on Wednesday night, including Dmitry Rogozin, a former Russian deputy prime minister and one-time head of the state space corporation Roscosmos.
Mr Rogozin was celebrating his birthday at a restaurant in Donetsk when the building came under fire, according to Russian media reports. He later wrote that he was scheduled to undergo surgery because a metal fragment was stuck in his spine above his right shoulder blade.
In a statement, Ukraine’s border force acknowledged the shelling in Donetsk, saying that Mr Rogozin had illegally crossed into Ukraine and adding that such action “has consequences”.
A car bomb also killed a Kremlin-appointed local official in the southern Kherson region.
Russian state TV sought to downplay the success of Mr Zelensky’s trip to Washington, pointing out that not all members of Congress showed up to listen to his speech.
Meanwhile, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog met officials from Russia’s military and state atomic energy company in Moscow on Thursday in an attempt to set up a protection zone around a Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi indicated that more negotiations are needed after “another round of necessary discussions”.
“It’s key that the zone focuses solely on preventing a nuclear accident,” he tweeted. “I am continuing my efforts towards this goal with a sense of utmost urgency.”
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
