Putin claims Moscow is ready for Ukraine talks as attacks continue

KYIV, Ukraine — President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia is prepared for talks to finish the battle in Ukraine even because the nation confronted extra assaults from Moscow — a transparent signal that peace wasn’t imminent.

Putin mentioned in a state tv interview, excerpts of which have been launched on Sunday afternoon that Russia is “ready to barter some acceptable outcomes with all of the contributors of this course of.”

He mentioned that “it isn’t us who refuse talks, it is them” — one thing the Kremlin has repeatedly acknowledged in latest months as its 10-month outdated invasion saved dropping momentum.

Putin additionally repeated that Moscow has “no different alternative” and mentioned he believed the Kremlin was “performing in the suitable path.”

“We’re defending our nationwide pursuits, the pursuits of our residents, our folks,” he mentioned.

Putin’s remarks come as assaults on Ukraine proceed. A rustic-wide air raid alert was introduced twice on Sunday alone, and three missiles within the afternoon hit town of Kramatorsk within the partially occupied Donetsk area, native officers reported.

The missiles hit an industrial space of town, and there weren’t any casualties, in keeping with the Ukrainian governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko. Kyrylenko mentioned that town of Avdiivka was additionally attacked on Sunday with six rounds of shelling, and a girl was wounded there.

Elsewhere within the front-line area, across the metropolis of Bakhmut, the place fierce battles have been underway in latest weeks, the Russian forces have been struggling to maintain up the tempo of their offensive, a U.S.-based suppose tank reported this weekend.

“Russian forces’ charge of advance within the Bakhmut space has probably slowed in latest days, though it’s too early to evaluate whether or not the Russian offensive to seize Bakhmut has culminated,” the Institute for the Examine of Conflict wrote in its latest replace.

The suppose tank cited Russian navy bloggers, who it mentioned have lately acknowledged “that Ukrainian forces within the Bakhmut space have managed to barely decelerate the tempo of the Russian advance round Bakhmut and its surrounding settlements.”

Sources on Ukrainian social media “beforehand claimed that Ukrainian forces fully pushed Russian forces out of the japanese outskirts of Bakhmut” round Dec. 21, the report added.

“Russian forces will probably wrestle to keep up the tempo of their offensive operations within the Bakhmut space and should search to provoke a tactical or operational pause,” the institute concluded.

A day earlier than, a lethal Russian assault on the southern metropolis of Kherson, retaken by Ukrainian forces final month, killed and wounded scores of individuals.

The Russian forces shelled Ukrainian-held areas of the partially occupied Kherson area 71 instances over the previous 24 hours, together with 41 assaults on town of Kherson, the area’s Ukrainian governor Yaroslav Yanushevich reported on Sunday.

A complete of 16 folks have been killed, in keeping with the official, together with three emergency employees killed within the technique of demining the Berislav district of the area. Yanushevich mentioned that 64 extra have been wounded.

Within the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk area, town of Nikopol was shelled in a single day from heavy artillery, Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko mentioned. No casualties have been reported.

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