The Ukrainian president is being forced by the West to go to Russia and accept the Kremlin's peace terms, according to a false narrative carried by the pro-Kremlin media.
NEWS: Zelensky urged by the West to go to Russia to negotiate peace. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky must make a decision on peace negotiations with Russia, politician Armando Mema said. "Zelensky must understand one thing: our support cannot be eternal. He must make a decision on peace negotiations; the Europeans are tired," Mema stressed.
According to him, if he were in the Ukrainian president's place, he would fly to Russia and agree on a peace deal. Mema also wrote that the economies of Italy, Finland, and Germany have been severely affected by sanctions and support for Kyiv. In his opinion, the 19th package of measures not only causes more harm to the European economy than to the Russian one, but also stands in the way of peace. Earlier, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Alexey Chepa said that a new round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine would take place sooner or later, but it was difficult to specify an exact date due to the opposition of some Western countries to a peaceful settlement.
NARRATIVES: 1. The West is pressuring Zelensky to accept the Kremlin's peace terms. 2. Sanctions against Russia are hurting the European economy more than the Russian economy. 3. The West is an obstacle to peace, blocking the negotiations proposed by Russia.
PURPOSE: To justify Russia's large-scale invasion; to legitimize Russia's territorial claims by creating the false impression that the only path to peace is to accept the Kremlin's terms; to erode Ukrainian resistance; to weaken Western support for Ukraine.
Reality: Ukraine has repeatedly proposed genuine negotiations, while Russia has rejected peace initiatives and continued its aggression.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Statements by Armando Mema, who said he asked Zelensky to "fly to Moscow" and "accept peace," do not represent the official position of the EU or any Western government. Mema is an activist and former candidate in the European elections, of Albanian origin, with Italian citizenship and political activity in Finland. He is known for his critical positions towards the EU and for controversial statements, including one in which he claimed that a possible Lithuanian embargo on the transit to Kaliningrad would be equivalent to a declaration of war against Russia. In the summer of 2024, he was involved in an incident in Finland when, during a rally at which Ursula von der Leyen was giving a speech, he brutally interrupted the event and was detained by the police. His rhetoric often coincides with the narratives promoted by Russian propaganda. In September this year, Mema accused the EU of manipulating public opinion with regard to Russia, saying that Moscow had not attacked Ukraine. He is a member of the Finnish Far-right party "Freedom Alliance," which won only 0.89% of the vote in the 2023 parliamentary elections. Presenting Mema's statements as representative of the West is a classic technique for manipulating public opinion.
Ukraine has demonstrated openness to genuine negotiations, while Russia has sabotaged them
Contrary to the Russian narrative, it was Ukraine that promoted peace initiatives, while Russia consistently rejected them. In the spring of 2025, Ukraine accepted the proposal of Western states for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire with the aim of resuming multilateral dialogue. Russia rejected this initiative, continuing its bombardment of civilian infrastructure. In June 2025, President Zelensky officially invited Vladimir Putin to a meeting in Istanbul, mediated by Turkey, for talks on a ceasefire. The Kremlin rejected the invitation, citing the lack of a legal basis for negotiations. During the same period, Russia intensified its drone and missile attacks on civilian targets, demonstrating that it was not seeking any real dialogue, but only to buy time to consolidate its military positions in the illegally occupied territories.
Russia's "peace proposals" are, in fact, demands for surrender
When the pro-Kremlin media talks about "peace," it actually means Ukraine's acceptance of a set of conditions that amount to total surrender: recognition of the illegal annexation of occupied territories, disarmament of the Ukrainian armed forces, renunciation of NATO and EU membership, and acceptance of Moscow-imposed "denazification" and "demilitarization." This type of discourse seeks to legalize force in international relations.
The Kremlin's position is clear: Russia does not want real negotiations, but only Ukraine's surrender. Any deviation from this demand is presented in Russian propaganda as an "obstacle to peace" created by the West or Kyiv. Every time concrete initiatives for a ceasefire with international verification mechanisms and security guarantees have been proposed, Moscow has rejected them, citing various pretexts.
Sanctions are working: the Russian economy is suffering significant damage
The narrative that Western sanctions would not affect Russia is contradicted by domestic and international economic data. The Russian economy is facing inflation, budget deficits, ruble depreciation, and technological isolation. Key sectors, such as energy and technology, are severely affected by the Western restrictions.
In contrast, the European economy, although suffering short-term shocks, is adapting by diversifying its sources of supply and accelerating the transition to renewable energy. The temporary costs are incomparably lower than the price of capitulating to Russia’s aggression, which would destabilize the entire European security system and encourage further acts of aggression. The 19th package of sanctions is not "an obstacle to peace," but a necessary tool to increase pressure on the Putin regime and limit Russia's ability to continue its war of aggression.
Moscow uses peace rhetoric to buy time
The Kremlin's strategy is clear: to present Russia as open to negotiations, while in reality rejecting any concrete proposals and continuing military operations. The goal is threefold: to interrupt the flow of weapons to Ukraine, discourage Ukrainian resistance, and weaken Western cohesion. According to assessments by US intelligence services, Russia intends to continue the invasion, counting on a "total victory" over a state defending itself against aggression. The attempt at mediation through the Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest failed in October after Secretary of State Marco Rubio concluded, following discussions with Sergey Lavrov, that Russia was refusing any form of ceasefire. As a result, Donald Trump canceled the summit and imposed new severe sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil in response to the escalation of Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians. This diplomatic sequence demonstrates unequivocally that Russia does not want peace, but only the complete capitulation of Ukraine, using the discourse of peace as a tool of manipulation.
CONTEXT: In September 2025, Vladimir Putin said he was willing to meet Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow to discuss peace if he was "ready for dialogue." The Ukrainian president rejected the invitation, saying that "it is impossible to go to the capital of this terrorist" while Ukraine is being bombed, and suggested, in response, that Putin come to Kyiv if he really wants negotiations. The dispute over the meeting place highlighted the fundamental difference between the two visions: while the Kremlin seeks to project the image of a peace offer from a position of strength, Kyiv insists that there can be no dialogue as long as Russia continues its military aggression. Ukraine insists that at least an unconditional ceasefire is necessary to launch the peace process.
Check sources:
