The Russia-Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin says he is willing to negotiate to end the conflict

We are ready to negotiate with all the people involved on acceptable solutions, but it depends on them: it’s not us who refuse to negotiate,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin of the war in Ukraine, as Russian forces continued shelling Ukrainian territory, a clear sign that peace is not imminent.

In an interview on Russian state television, parts of which aired on Sunday, Putin said Moscow was “ready to negotiate some acceptable outcomes with all participants in this process.”

“We are not the ones who refuse to negotiateIt’s them,” he said, reiterating the same stance the Kremlin has taken in recent months as its 10-month war in Ukraine loses momentum.

The Russian president also reiterated his argument that Russia “I have no choice” rather than encroaching and that he is “acting in the right direction”.

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“We are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people,” he said.

The comments came like Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine.

On Sunday alone, the authorities issued twice an air raid warning for all of Ukraine and three missiles fell on Kramatorsk in partially occupied Donetsk in the afternoon, local officials said.

The missiles hit an industrial sector of the city and there were no casualties, according to the Ukrainian governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko. He added that the city of Avdiivka was also attacked on Sunday with six artillery shells and that a woman was injured there.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the front, Russian forces were struggling to maintain the momentum of their offensive in the town of Bakhmut, where heavy fighting was fought in recent weeks, a US-based think tank reported.

The Institute for the Study of War said the pace of Russian forces advancing into Bakhmut’s area has likely slowed in recent days, though it’s too early to tell whether the Russian attempt to take Bakhmut is over.

The think tank quoted Russian military bloggers as saying they recently acknowledged “that Ukrainian forces in the Bakhmut area they managed to slow the pace of the Russian advance slightly around Bakhmut and the surrounding settlements”.

Sources on Ukrainian social media “previously claimed that Ukrainian forces completely expelled Russian forces from the eastern outskirts of Bakhmut” around Dec. 21, the report added.

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“Probably Russian forces they will have a hard time keeping up with their operations offensives in the Bakhmut area and could try to initiate a tactical or operational pause”, concluded the institute.

The day before, a deadly Russian attack on the southern city of Kherson, liberated by Ukrainian forces last month, left dozens dead or injured.

Russian forces they bombed 71 times Ukrainian-controlled areas of the Kherson region partially occupied in the past 24 hours, including 41 attacks on the city of Kherson, the region’s Ukrainian governor Yaroslav Yanushevich said on Sunday.

A total of 16 people were killed, according to the governor, including three rescuers who died in demining in the region’s Berislav district. Yanushevich said 64 others were injured.

In the nearby Dnipropetrovsk region, the city of Nikopol came under heavy artillery fire during the night, Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said. No casualties were reported.

Source: AP and ANSA

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