Russia has mocked President Trump for being too much under the influence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's perspective on the ongoing war, after on Tuesday the American leader stated he thinks Ukraine is in "a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form." Trump had also called Russia a "paper tiger".

The Kremlin on Wednesday made clear its military would press on with the "special military operation" because it sees "no alternative" - and after Trump-backed peace efforts have gone nowhere.

"Mr. Trump heard about what's happening from Zelensky's perspective. And, apparently, at this point, that version is what led to the assessment we heard," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with RBC Radio. 

Russia will press on in its "special military operation to ensure our national interests... We are doing this for the present and the future of the country. For many generations to come." There is "no alternative" based on the precarious situation Russia found itself in, he expressed, and likely had constant NATO expansion on his mind.

He then stressed that Moscow is calling for the world's attention to understand "root causes" of the war in Ukraine. "Putin repeatedly tried and offered to resolve those root causes," Peskov said.

He followed up in a separate press briefing by saying it is a "mistake" to think Ukraine can take back territory currently under the control of Russian troops.

Trump's rosy assessment of the state of the battlefield, voiced firmly from Kiev's perspective, ignores what even mainstream media has been openly admitting for much of the past year - that Ukrainian forces are crumbling amid manpower shortages, ammo and weapons supply problems, and bad strategy and leadership from commanders.

For example, just last month a WSJ report described, "Ukrainian officers and infantrymen complain of a centralized command culture that often punishes initiative and wastes men's lives. Generals order repetitive frontal assaults that have little hope of success, and deny requests from beleaguered units to carry out tactical retreats and save their men. Casualties accumulate on operations with little strategic value."