LONDON - Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman on Tuesday said that the war in Ukraine was a tragedy and that it should stop.
Fridman, who was born in western Ukraine, said he and his long-term partner, Pyotr Aven, were shocked to discover on Monday that the European Union had sanctioned them.
Furthermore, Russia said Western sanctions would never make Rkraine, the Kremliosition on Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
Responding to a barrage of Western sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "They are counting on forcing us to change our position. This is out of the question."
Peskov told reporters that President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the first round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials on Monday, but it was too early to judge the outcome.
There were no plans for talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he said, adding that Moscow still recognised Zelenskiy as Ukraine's leader.
Zelenskiy, he said, could prevent further casualties if he gave the command to lay down arms.
Ukraine has refused to surrender, and its forces have put up strong resistance to Russia's assault from the north, east and south, which Moscow describes as a special operation to demilitarise and "denazify" the country - a justification dismissed by Kyiv and the West as war propaganda.
Peskov dismissed allegations of Russian strikes on civilian targets and the use of cluster bombs and vacuum bombs as fakes. He categorically denied that Russia had committed war crimes.
Ukraine says large numbers of civilians have been killed. Peskov said, without providing evidence, that Ukrainian nationalist groups were using people as human shields.
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Reuters