Ukraine Says NATO Does Not Want Them But Refuses Moscow's Demand To Surrender

Dmitriy Peskov, the press secretary of the President of Russia, has said that Ukrainian authorities can put an end to the war "by the end of the day" if it lays down its arms and surrenders. This comes as Kyiv officials bemoaned the lack of NATO support on war against Russia.

Peskov was responding to reports about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's call to end the war before winter. "The Ukrainian side can end all this by the end of today, they just have to order nationalist subdivisions to lay down their arms, order the Ukrainian military to lay down their arms and fulfill the conditions set by the Russian Federation. All this can end by the end of today. The rest is up to the head of the Ukrainian state, who should think this over," Peskov was quoted by RIA Novosti, a Russian-state-owned news media.

Peskov added that a special military operation is going according to plan and achieving its goals. He said Russia has set no approximate dates for its completion.

Kyiv has responded to Peskov's statement, saying that "Ukraine did not start this war to stop it by order." "They can end the war in Moscow at any time, simply by returning to adequacy: stop sending missiles through cities, withdraw troops and abandon nuclear propaganda," said Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, as the war rages on, Kyiv leadership has expressed their disappointment with the West and NATO for not doing enough.

"Ukraine is told 'you are not a member because we do not want you," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s Deputy Chief of Staff Ihor Zhovkva, who is responsible for foreign policy was quoted by Bloomberg. "NATO is telling us we are not giving you anything," he added.

According to Zhovkva, NATO "has fallen short, and Ukraine’s expectations for Madrid are low" despite the West sending billions worth of weapons to Ukraine. " Obviously what we want to achieve is unanimous, vocal support for Ukraine," he said.

Adding that people in Ukraine "are living a little bit quicker," Zhovkva said the new draft security concept for NATO needs to acknowledge that its primary threat is Russia and that the best defense it has against that threat is Ukraine.

"Adding Sweden and Finland to the alliance or expanding its rapid 15-day response force would all improve Europe’s security. But imagine what would have happened if Ukraine had taken 15 days to deploy its forces once Russia invaded on Feb. 24," Zhovkva said.

This comes as reports quoting a defense expert said Ukraine's military has suffered more casualties in the four months than there are infantry troops in the British Army altogether. There was 18,000 infantry in the British Army in 2021.