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The warning was sent by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiations with Ukraine.
Russia demands that Ukraine recognize that Moscow has conquered a fifth of its territory. This was suggested by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, who warned that if the demands are not met, the Russian Army will respond.
Lavrov’s words respond to the objectives of kyiv, which, supported by the United States and its NATO allies, promised to recover all the occupied territory and expel all Russian soldiers.
“Our proposals for the demilitarization and denazification of the territories controlled by the regime, the elimination of threats to the security of Russia emanating from there, including our new lands, are well known to the enemy,” Lavrov said, quoted by the TASS agency.
Lavrov said that “the matter is simple”: the demands are met “for good” or the Russian Army takes care of it. Regarding the prolongation of the conflict, “the ball is in the court” of kyiv and Washington, which is behind the Ukrainian state, said the Russian official.
The threat comes after Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin was ready to “negotiate with all parties involved about acceptable solutions” in Ukraine.
“We are not the ones who refuse to negotiate, it is them,” said the Russian leader.
Battle intensifies despite calls for peace
The exchange of political messages occurs as the war intensifies. The British Defense Ministry said fighting was heavy around the strategic eastern town of Bakhmut in Donetsk province and Svatove further north in Lugansk province. Donetsk and Lugansk, which make up industrial Donbass, both claimed, along with two regions in southern Ukraine, by Russia.
“Russia continues to initiate frequent small-scale assaults on these (Bakhmut and Svatove) areas, although little territory has changed hands,” the British ministry tweeted.
The Reuters agency showed images of fires in a residential building in Bakhmut, while rubble covered the streets and most of the surrounding buildings were affected.
Moscow shows no intention of withdrawing until it achieves its objectives, while kyiv does not see the possibility of negotiating until the withdrawal of the Russians from all its territory, including the Crimean peninsula.
According to Lavrov, the United States and its NATO allies, together with Ukraine, want to defeat Russia “on the battlefield” in order to destroy it.
“The actions of the countries of the collective West and of (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky under their control confirm the global nature of the Ukrainian crisis,” he added.
“It is not a secret to anyone that the strategic objective of the United States and its NATO allies is to defeat Russia on the battlefield as a mechanism to significantly weaken or even destroy our country,” said the head of Russian diplomacy.
After several military defeats in its “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russia is seeking a battlefield victory by capturing Bakhmut, a city of 70,000 now reduced to just about 10,000 mostly elderly residents.
Taking the city would give Russia a springboard to advance on two major cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
The war began on February 24. Ukraine and Western countries accuse Moscow of attempting to illegally seize Ukrainian territory, which has led to a series of sanctions on Russian finance and oil, as well as a large financial outlay to help Ukraine defend itself.
With EFE and Reuters
