On December 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine is not in a hurry to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict, according to Russian news agencies.
Mr. Putin said Moscow sees that Kiev is not taking urgent action to end the conflict by peaceful means.
President Putin declared that if Ukraine does not want to resolve the conflict peacefully, Russia will complete the entire goal of the "special military operation" with military strength.
Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to large-scale drone and missile attacks by Russia, saying that Moscow is expressing a desire to prolong the war, while Kiev wants to achieve peace. This view shows a clear opposition between the two sides on assessing the current situation.
The Kremlin said that the Russian President had inspected a command post of the Russian armed forces, where he received reports from Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and commanders of Central and Eastern force clusters.
According to information from the Kremlin and Russian news agencies published on Telegram, Russian commanders reported that Moscow forces had controlled the towns of Myrnohrad, Rodynske and Artemivka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, along with Huliaipole and Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The Ukrainian military, in its regular war update, said that their forces have repelled Russia's offensive efforts in the vicinity of Myrnohrad and Huliaipole. This contradictory information reflects the deep differences in assessing the actual developments between the two sides, and also shows that the peace process is still facing many obstacles.
The White House has not yet responded immediately to the request for comments related to President Putin's statement.
