MOSCOW — The Kremlin stated Wednesday it had not obtained any proposals from Kyiv to halt combating in Ukraine through the upcoming vacation interval and a ceasefire was not on Moscow’s agenda.
“No, no proposals have been received from anyone and no topic of this kind is on the agenda,” the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov advised reporters in response to a query on whether or not Russia would pause hostilities for the New Year or Christmas.
Christmas in Russia is widely known on January 7, based on the Orthodox calendar, and public holidays within the nation normally prolong from New Year’s Day till after Christmas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what was purported to be a lightning offensive in Ukraine in February, and Kyiv has stated it’s decided to proceed combating till it recaptures swathes of territory beneath Russian management.
In almost 10 months of combating, Russia has but to meet any of its said key objectives in what it refers to as its “special military operation” in Ukraine, together with seizing the capital or the jap Donbas area.
The Moscow-installed chief of Ukraine’s Donetsk area on Wednesday nonetheless referred to as for Russia to widen its objectives and annex two extra areas of Ukraine, the Black Sea area of Odessa and Chernigiv within the north.
In response to that decision, Peskov stated that any determination to include these areas would depend upon “the will of residents” there.
“The primary task is to protect people in the Lugansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic. Our military is concentrating on this,” he stated, referring to 2 areas that Russia claimed to have annexed in September. — Agence France-Presse
