MOSCOW, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia could see Kyiv was in no hurry to end the Ukraine conflict by peaceful means, Interfax news agency reported on Saturday.
Putin said that if Ukraine did not want to resolve the conflict peacefully then Russia would accomplish all goals of its “special military operation” by force, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Earlier on Saturday, responding to Russia’s vast overnight drone and missile attack, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia was demonstrating its wish to continue the war, while Kyiv wanted peace.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Putin’s remarks.
The Kremlin said earlier that the Russian president, who inspected one of the command posts of the Russian armed forces, received reports from the chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, and commanders of the “Centre” and “East” groups of Russian forces.
Russian commanders told Putin that Moscow’s forces had captured the towns of Myrnohrad, Rodynske and Artemivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as well as Huliaipole and Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhzhia region, the Kremlin and Russian agencies said on Telegram.
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.
(Reporting by ReutersAdditional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Palm Beach, FloridaEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
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