MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Moscow was not ready to make concessions when it came to Ukraine and that President Vladimir Putin’s own proposals on how to end the conflict needed to be implemented.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made her comments after being asked about a call on Sunday by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end “the madness.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has been pushing hard for his country to be invited to join the NATO military alliance, responded to Trump’s comments by saying Kyiv needed effective security guarantees.
Zakharova said that anyone who thought Russia would make concessions on Ukraine had either a short memory or not enough knowledge of the subject.
Putin’s proposals for peace needed to be implemented, she said.
The Kremlin chief has said that Ukraine must not join NATO and that Russia needs the entire territory of the four Ukrainian regions he has said are now part of Russia if there is to be peace.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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