Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday remarked that Ukraine was in no hurry to end the ongoing conflict by peaceful means and warned that Russia would achieve its goals by force if Kyiv did not
accept the peace talks.
“If the Kyiv authorities do not want to resolve the matter peacefully, we will accomplish all the tasks before us in the course of the special military operation by military means,” Putin was quoted as saying by the TASS News Agency.
“We see that even today, unfortunately, the leaders of the Kyiv regime are in no hurry to resolve this conflict peacefully. I spoke about this a year ago in a speech at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he added.
His remarks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is enroute to Florida for a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Sunday, as Russian strikes pummeled Ukraine. Zelenskyy said the Russian onslaught showed Moscow had no intention of ending the invasion it launched in February 2022, while Kyiv wanted peace.
“This attack is again, Russia’s answer to our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace, and we want peace,” Zelensky said before meeting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Ukraine’s military said in its regular battlefield update on Saturday that its forces had beaten back Russian attempts to advance in the vicinity of Myrnohrad and Huliaipole.
Trump-Zelenskyy Meeting
Sunday’s meeting in Florida is to focus on a new, 20-point plan that would freeze the war on its current front line. It could require Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarised buffer zones, according to details revealed by Zelenskyy this week.
Ahead of the meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy consulted with allies, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canada’s Mark Carney and other European leaders, who gave him their “full support”, said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
However, Trump on Friday made it clear that he is in no rush to accept Zelenskyy’s proposal. “He doesn’t have anything until I approve it. So we’ll see what he’s got,” he told Politico. Meanwhile, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov accused Zelenskyy of attempting to “torpedo” the US-brokered deal and any deal had to “remain within the limits” fixed by Trump and Putin.
The overnight barrage of Russian drones and missiles, which targeted Kyiv for about 10 hours, killed two people, wounded dozens and cut power and heating to more than a million of the region’s residents during freezing temperatures, Ukrainian authorities said.
(with inputs from agencies)
