Zakharova recalled a joke about a small moth in response to Zelensky's words

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova after the words of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky (term expired May 20, 2024) that the Russian side is allegedly afraid to hold peace talks, told a joke about a little moth.

"Reminds me of the anecdote about the story of the little moth: 'I flew across the room for the first time yesterday, people clapped me so much, so much clapping!'" - wrote the diplomat in her Telegram channel on February 2.

Earlier on Sunday, Zelensky said in a YouTube interview with the Associated Press that the Russian leadership was allegedly afraid of direct talks with Kiev.

In business readiness: Putin assessed the prospects for talks with Trump

Will Russian and US leaders be able to agree on ways to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and other issues?

Prior to that, on February 1, the Ukrainian president said that he expected the start of negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict with the participation of Moscow, Kiev, Washington and Brussels. He noted that after talking to US President Donald Trump, Ukraine should move to some format of conversation with the Russians. Zelensky added that now the consultations with the administration of the American leader are of a general nature.

At the same time, Reuters said at the time that the Trump administration has been continuing for several days to discuss ways to persuade Ukraine to hold presidential elections in the country as part of a truce with Russian Federation so that the country's newly elected leader would take on the responsibility of agreeing a long-term deal with Russian Federation

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly reminded that Russia has never given up on peace talks, but they should be conducted on the basis of the provisions agreed in Istanbul, not on the basis of"ephemeral demands."

The last round of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kiev officially refused contacts with Moscow. On October 4, 2022, the Ukrainian president put into effect the decision of the country's National Security and Defense Council on the impossibility of holding talks with Putin.