The Kremlin said today that Ukraine will have to negotiate with Russia "sooner or later" and that Kiev's negotiating position is getting worse with each passing day, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Moscow, whose forces are trying to take control of the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, accused Ukrainian officials of refusing to participate in peace talks. Kiev says Moscow's conditions for stopping the war are unacceptable and tantamount to forcing Ukraine to surrender.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Russia remained open to the idea of a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict and wanted peace.
In the absence of such an opportunity, however, he said Russia would continue to fight to protect its security in order to have an advantage in possible negotiations.
"The Ukrainian side must know that sooner or later it will have to negotiate, but from a much worse position. The position of the Kiev regime will worsen with each passing day," Peskov said.
Russia is increasing the production of military equipment, which shows not only its unwillingness to end the war against Ukraine, but also its plans to launch a large-scale aggression in Europe in the period between 2029 and 2030, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, quoted by Ukrinform, BTA reports.
"We must recognize that they want a big war and we must prepare in 2029 or 2030 - in this period of time - to start such a big war. On the European continent. We see this as a really big challenge," Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
He stressed that Russia has no intention of stopping its aggression against Ukraine at the moment.
"Given the situation on the battlefield, we do not see Russia wanting to stop. The problem is that when we look at Russia's defense industry, we see that they are increasing their production. And our assessment is that they want to continue this war," he added.
According to Zelensky, joint pressure could force Russia to end the war. He called on the partners to consider how to stop the Russians in Ukraine and do everything possible to reduce their capabilities, "not to give them money that they could still get from energy. And not to give them weapons."