12/28/2022–|Last Updated: 12/28/20222.30pm (Mecca)
On Wednesday, the Kremlin denied that Ukraine still had a peace plan, accusing Kiev of disregarding what it called today’s realities.
The Kremlin has confirmed its rejection of any peace plan with Ukraine that does not recognize the accession of the “four new regions” to Russia. In reference to the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, whose annexation Moscow announced months ago, after calling a referendum whose results were rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies.
And Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Moscow’s readiness to discuss security issues in Ukraine and other important strategic issues.
Lavrov said – in his statements from Moscow – that it is not possible to communicate with the administration of US President Joe Biden unless Washington realizes “the negativity of its current behavior”, as he said. He added that there is no alternative to building mutually respectful relations with Russia in Ukraine, urging Washington to abandon its current positions towards his country.
For her part, the UN Secretary-General’s spokeswoman said that the international organization cannot hold a peace summit on Ukraine without the consent of all parties, following statements by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in which ruled that Russia face war crimes tribunal before holding direct talks with his country.
The war between Russia and Ukraine is entering its 11th month, and there is still little hope of stopping it through diplomatic solutions, as indicated by conflicting statements by the two countries’ officials in their vision of stopping the fighting.
Since the start of the Russian war against Ukraine on February 24 (Russia calls it a special military operation), Moscow has set its goals to protect the population of the Donbass region, eliminate threats to Russia’s security, disarm the ‘Ukraine and eliminate the “Nazi” tendencies in it.
According to observers, Moscow insists on starting negotiations and ending the war by recognizing the sovereignty and independence of the five regions that joined Russia in 2014 and 2022 as constituent parts of the Russian Federation, and thus recognition by Kiev of the new borders that emerge as a result between Russia and Ukraine.
At the same time, Ukraine – and behind it the United States – insists on the withdrawal of the Russians from the “occupied territories” it seized after last February’s attack, which continues to this day.
