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Kiev’s unwillingness to negotiate has necessitated the continuation of hostilities, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said
Russia has always been willing to achieve its goals in the Ukraine conflict diplomatically and has only resorted to military means because Kiev rejects talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, commenting on a statement by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that the hostilities will end next year.
In an interview published earlier in the day by Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet, Orban expressed certainty that peace in the Ukraine conflict would be achieved in 2025, either through negotiations or after “one of the parties” is destroyed, he reasoned.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “has repeatedly stated that we are open to dealing with our issues through negotiations,” Peskov told the media, when asked about the remarks. He was referring to the national security goals outlined by the Russian leader.
“Since so far there has been no movement in terms of Ukraine’s readiness to negotiate, we are continuing our military operation,” he added. The situation on the battlefield, where Russian troops have an advantage over their opponents, “speaks for itself,” Peskov said.
Moscow wants its neighbor to be neutral rather than a member of NATO, a military bloc that Russia considers hostile. It also demands that the Ukrainian military be limited in strength and that Kiev abandon policies that discriminate against ethnic Russians in the country. Moscow has characterized the conflict as a Western proxy war against Russia in which Ukrainians serve as cannon fodder.
Earlier this month, the Russian military released its latest assessment of Ukrainian battlefield casualties. Roughly one million troops have been killed, injured or taken captive since the tensions with Kiev escalated in February 2022, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said in a year-end report. More than half of the losses, or 560,000, were recorded this year, he said.
