Kremlin slaps down Zelenskyy's call for a troop withdrawal, saying Ukraine must face 'realities' as Russia claims lands its forces don't even control

• The Kremlin rejected Zelenskyy's call for Russian troops to withdraw from Ukraine.
• Peskov said Ukraine needed to accept "the realities" that have developed over the course of the war.

The Kremlin rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call for Russian troops to be pulled from Ukraine, urging Kyiv to accept Moscow's claims over Ukrainian lands that Russia's forces don't fully occupy before peace can be considered.

"The Ukrainian side needs to take into account the realities that have developed during this time," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, per Reuters.

"And these realities indicate that new subjects have appeared in the Russian Federation. They appeared as a result of referendums that took place in these territories. Without taking these new realities into account, no kind of progress is possible," Peskov added, referencing votes that have been decried around the world as a sham.

The referendums occurred in Ukrainian territories that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed in September. Russian forces did not fully control these regions when Putin announced the illegal annexations, and they have continued to lose ground to Ukraine's military ever since. In November, Russian troops retreated from Kherson, the first major city Russia's military seized after the invasion.

In short, Russia is calling on Ukraine to accept "realities" even as Moscow's rhetoric on the war is consistently at odds with the situation on the ground.

Peskov's comments came after Zelenskyy on Monday said in an address to G7 leaders that "the occupier must leave," adding, "It will certainly happen. I see no reason why Russia should not do it now – at Christmas."

"The answer from Moscow will show what they really want — further confrontation with the world or finally cessation of the aggression. The one who brought the war upon us has to take it away," the Ukrainian leader argued.

The war in Ukraine has not gone well for Russia, which is estimated to have suffered approximately 100,000 casualties since invading in late February.

The West has responded to the invasion by moving to isolate Moscow economically and politically, slapping Russia with crippling sanctions. As the situation in Ukraine looks increasingly grim for Russia, the Kremlin on Monday announced that Putin would not to hold his annual year-end press conference, a prevailing theory being that perhaps he hopes to avoid uncomfortable questions on the war.