Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday an all-out war with Russia was a possibility, to which Moscow responded by saying he was “divorced from reality.”
Asked at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) summit on the possibility of war with Russia he said: “I think it may happen. It’s the worst thing that could happen, but unfortunately there is that possibility,” according to Ukrainian state news agency Urkinform.
He added that if that were to happen, it would be “Russia’s biggest mistake”.
Meanwhile, Spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said: “Zelensky’s statements are becoming more and more divorced from reality. Phrases that are not connected by a single logic and do not express any conceptual approach,” according to Russian state news agency TASS.
She added: “It’s a superficial fragmented response. A set of aggressive, accusatory words and cliches that are not united into a single thought.”
Tensions between Ukraine and Russia heightened this year when Moscow massed troops near the border and fighting intensified in eastern Ukraine. The two countries’ relations have soured over the years since Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.
Moscow accused Kyiv of losing interest in peace talks, while Zelenskiy pushed in vain for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the conflict zone.