A top Russian official has suggested Moscow is not interested in any settlements short of the eradication of the Ukrainian state.
Russian Foreign Intelligence Service director Sergei Naryshkin said the Ukrainian state and government have a "very sad fate" and that Russia "will not stop halfway".
In its initial invasion of Ukraine, Russia had hoped to enter Kyiv and topple the Ukrainian government before installing its own officials.
US-based thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said Mr Naryshkin had made a similar statement previously that Russia "will not stop halfway" in its fight with Nazi ideology - a theme that Moscow has used to justify its invasion.
"The similarity of both statements suggests that Naryshkin may be using pre-approved Kremlin rhetoric to signal to Russian citizens that the Kremlin is not open to negotiating with Ukraine or compromising in any settlement of the war Russia started, despite recent Western reports to the contrary," the ISW said.
"Russian officials have consistently reiterated Russia's commitment to its maximalist objectives in Ukraine - which are tantamount to complete Ukrainian and Western capitulation- and statements by Russian officials suggesting that Russia is or has always been interested in peace negotiations with Ukraine are very likely efforts to feign interest to prompt preemptive Western concessions regarding Ukraine's sovereignty or territorial integrity."
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-russia-news-putin-nuclear-live-updates-kyiv-12541713
.......this calls the lie to the BS about russia wanting to negotiate that dirty and Olceg trty and push as their way of supporting the most corrupt and aggressive regime in Europe .
