News / Russia

Moscow: Only through 'military means' Russia can ‘achieve goals’ in Ukraine

Monday, 13 March 2023 6:55 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 13 March 2023 6:55 PM ]

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

The Kremlin says only through "military means" Russia can "achieve its goals" in Ukraine, more than a year after Moscow began the war in the ex-Soviet republic.

At a press conference on Monday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the moment there were no preconditions for the transition of the process into a peaceful course in Ukraine.

"For us, the absolute priority continues and will always remain the achievement of the goals set. At the moment they can only be achieved by military means," the Kremlin spokesman said.

However, Peskov did not specify Russia’s exact goals in Ukraine as they appear to have changed a number of times over the past year.

Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 to "de-Nazify" and “de-militarize” the country and over the threat of the former Soviet republic joining the US-led NATO. Kiev and its allies, however, say they were baseless pretexts for imperial ambitions.

Since the onset of the war, the United States and Ukraine's other allies have sent Kiev tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons, including rocket systems, drones, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems.

Western countries have also imposed a slew of economic sanctions on Moscow. The Kremlin has said the sanctions and the Western military assistance risk prolonging the war that recently completed one year.

Former German Deputy Foreign Minister Wolfgang Ischinger has written an article for the Der Tagesspiegel newspaper, saying the West should think about a peace process in Ukraine and immediately create an international contact group. The veteran diplomat, who also chaired the Munich Security Conference from 2008 to 2022, suggested that the group should have the US, UK, France and Germany as its core.

When asked about Ischinger's proposal, Peskov on Monday rejected the idea, saying, "No, we don't think so."