The ruble and Russian stocks declined as Lavrov demanded the return of four Ukrainian regions to Russia.

The freezing of the war in Ukraine along the current line of demarcation is impossible, as Kyiv still holds parts of the annexed regions of Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Kherson, stated Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"There were ideas like 'let's leave the line of demarcation - this is Russian, and this is Ukrainian.' First of all, that won't happen; we have a Constitution based on the will of the people. Secondly, what remains of Ukraine must also be liberated from racist laws," Lavrov said at a press conference in Doha.

According to him, no one asked Russia about the possibility of deploying peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, and this approach is being "imposed" by France and the United Kingdom "to further heat the conflict."

"Such simple mechanical tricks, like the deployment of troops, won't suffice; we need to talk about the root causes," Lavrov concluded.

Previously, Putin cited Ukraine's desire to join NATO as one of the reasons for the start of the full-scale war. In June of last year, he first outlined the conditions for initiating peace talks. Putin demands the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions and the declaration of a non-aligned status for the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Putin's demands another ultimatum and refused to discuss them.

Following Lavrov's remarks that Russia would not accept a ceasefire along the current frontline, the ruble sharply depreciated against the dollar, euro, and yuan, while the Moscow Exchange index fell.

The yuan's exchange rate against the ruble rose by 1.9% to 11.91 rubles. In the forex market, the dollar increased to 86.82 rubles—up by 1.6 rubles from morning levels. The euro, which had dropped below 90 rubles for the first time since June of last year, rose to 91.28 rubles.

Shares of Sberbank fell by 1.9%, Gazprom by 2.6%, Rosneft by 2%, Novatek by 2.6%, and Sovcomflot by 3%. The Moscow Exchange index fell by 1.51%, losing 107 billion rubles in terms of capitalization of the largest companies.

Background. Recall that earlier Reuters reported that after Trump's comments, the Kremlin stated it would not accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine.

Peskov refrained from public disputes with the U.S. President but effectively confirmed Russia's disagreement with Trump's words.