White House National Security Council (NSC) Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said during a February 17 briefing that there was no need for talks on the situation in Ukraine. The dialogue will take place when Kyiv is ready.
“To be completely frank, it (special operation. – Ed.) should not be completed through negotiations. Yes, most likely, this is the way it will go when the president is ready for it. [Украины Владимир] Zelensky. However, he [президент РФ Владимир Путин. — Ред.] can complete it now simply by withdrawing its troops,” he said.
On the eve of the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabkov said that in Ukraine at the moment there is an unrestrained escalation from Washington and other capitals. At the moment, Washington is ignoring all signals from the Russian Federation, which indicates a lack of readiness for dialogue, he said.
Prior to that, on February 2, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that world leaders are not trying to convince Ukraine to return to peace talks. According to him, Western leaders refused to negotiate, and also forced the Kiev regime to withdraw from the negotiation process at the very moment when there was still an opportunity to end it politically.
The last face-to-face round of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place on March 29 in Turkey. Later, Kyiv officially renounced contacts with Moscow. On October 4, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky enforced the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of the country on the impossibility of negotiations.
The special operation to protect the Donbass, the beginning of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, continues. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
