Russia's threat days after Putin's 'negotiation' claim: 'Ukraine must demilitarise, or Russian army...'

Just days after Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready for negotiations with all parties involved in the Ukraine war, Moscow signalled that it has no plans to end its invasion any time soon.

Russia's foreign minister on 27 December 2022 said that Ukraine must either demilitarise on its own, or the Russian army will "solve the issue".

Sergey Lavrov blamed the West for orchestrating continuation of the war to weaken Russia, and said that the conflict's duration is up to USA and Ukraine to decide.

A day earlier, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Associated Press in an interview that his government wants a summit to end the war but that he doesn't anticipate Russia taking part.

Kuleba said Ukraine wants a “peace” summit within two months with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres acting as mediator. But he also said that Russia must face a war crimes tribunal before before his country directly talks with Moscow.

Both statements illustrate how complex and difficult any attempts to end the war could be. Ukraine has said in the past that it wouldn't negotiate with Russia before the full withdrawal of its troops, while Moscow insists its military gains and the 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula cannot be ignored.

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(With agency inputs)