On Christmas Day, December 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to negotiate with “all the players” in the war in Ukraine. Before Christmas, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky personally visited the United States and finally obtained the advanced American air defense missile system “Patriots” (Patriots) that he asked for.
In an interview broadcast to Russian media on Christmas Day, Putin told a Russian reporter that the Kremlin was ready to negotiate, but that it was Russia’s enemies who refused to negotiate.
Putin’s comments came after Russia’s heavy shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson the day before Christmas, killing at least 10 on the Ukrainian side and wounding more than 50.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Russia as “absolute evil” after the deadly Christmas Eve attack, saying it was killing “for intimidation and amusement” because the areas Russia bombed were not Ukrainian military installations.
“The world needs to see and understand what an absolute evil we are fighting,” he said.
Zelensky returned safely to Ukraine on the 23rd after a whirlwind visit to the United States on December 21st. This is Zelensky’s first visit abroad since Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24.
During Zelensky’s visit to the United States, the United States announced that it would supply Ukraine with another major weapons package worth US$1.85 billion, including a set of “Patriot” missile launchers (mobile turrets mounted on vehicles) and “vehicle-mounted mobile turrets”. turrets” which the United States allowed to send to Ukraine for the first time. Patriot shells”.
This is the advanced US surface-to-air air defense system that Zelensky has been asking for and dreaming of since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Military experts believe this would immediately strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and reduce the threat of deadly Russian airstrikes.
While meeting with US President Joe Biden, Zelensky also discussed what a “just peace” would look like, proposing a set of 10 conditions that must be met for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to reach, including the Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine. full-scale withdrawal, including the withdrawal of Russia from the Crimean peninsula.
Russia held a “vote” to annex and control Crimea after it invaded Crimea in 2014. Most of the international community does not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea and condemns that “vote” at gunpoint as illegal.
Earlier, Putin called on Ukraine and the international community to recognize Crimea as part of Russia, but Ukraine and the international community never agreed with Putin.
“We are ready to negotiate an acceptable solution with all the parties involved, but it depends on them: it’s not us who refuse to negotiate, it’s them,” Putin said in an interview with Russian television on Christmas afternoon. he has repeatedly reiterated this point in recent months as Russia continues to lose momentum amid a 10-month military campaign.
Putin also reiterated that Moscow “has no choice” and said he believes the Kremlin is “moving in the right direction”. “We are defending our national interest, the interest of our citizens and the interest of our people,” he said.
Mikhailo, presidential adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Podoliak replied that Putin must come back to reality and admit that Russia does not want to negotiate. “It was Russia that unilaterally attacked Ukraine and it is killing (Ukrainian) citizens. Russia does not want to negotiate, it just wants to try to avoid accountability,” he wrote.
While the Kremlin has released Putin’s comments, Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have continued. Ukraine only issued two nationwide air alerts on Christmas Day Sunday, when three Russian missiles hit a town in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, on Christmas afternoon. Industrial area, but they are not casualties have been reported.
The Associated Press reported that there was no sign of peace coming any time soon.
On December 22, Putin first called the Russia-Ukraine war a “war” in a televised news conference. Previously he had called it only a “special military operation”, saying that Russia’s goal is to end the war.
In his meeting with Zelensky last Wednesday (21), US President Biden promised to help Ukraine “as long as necessary”.
“We all want this war to end… if Putin had some dignity and did the right thing, withdrawing his troops, then this war could end today. But it didn’t happen,” Biden said.Come back to Sohu to see more
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