Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia wants an end to the war in Ukraine and that this would inevitably involve a diplomatic solution.
Putin made the comments a day after U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House and promised him continued unwavering U.S. support.
“Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war,” Putin said. “We will strive for an end to this, and the sooner the better, of course.”
“All conflicts end, some way or another, with talks… the faster our adversaries in Kyiv understand that, the better it will be,” Putin said.
“Moscow’s military chief has said Russian forces are now concentrated on wrestling control of the eastern Donetsk region where the battered city of Bakhmut has become an epicentre of fighting.
Officials in Moscow have repeatedly said in recent months that they have not ruled out talks with Ukraine.
They blamed the closure of diplomatic channels on President Zelensky, who has said he will not negotiate while Putin is in power.
The Ukrainian leader has returned from a historic trip to Washington, where he told the Congress his country was “alive and kicking” and supporting it was an investment in global security.
He enjoyed a hero’s welcome on the lightning trip on Wednesday, in which U.S. President Biden committed nearly R1.8 billion in military supplies including, for the first time, the Patriot missile defence system.
Putin warned this could further draw out the conflict, saying: “Those who are confronting us say this is a defensive weapon… There will always be an antidote.”
“The people who are doing this are doing it in vain. It’s just prolonging the conflict, that’s all,” he told reporters.
Source: Reuters, NDTV, Global News, image from Twitter: @RayJPolitics1