'Ukraine In No Hurry To End War:' Putin Says Ahead Of Trump-Zelenskyy Meet, Warns Of 'Military Force'

New Delhi: Ahead of the much-anticipated talks between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump on a proposed 20-point peace plan which can possibly end the long-drawn-out Russia Ukraine war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he believes Kyiv is in not hurry to end the conflict and warned that Moscow would pursue all its objectives of its “special military operation” by force if diplomacy fails.

"And if the Kyiv authorities do not want to resolve the matter peacefully, we will accomplish all the tasks before us in the course of the special military operation by military means," Putin was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency TASS.

“We see that even today, unfortunately, the leaders of the Kyiv regime are in no hurry to resolve this conflict peacefully. I spoke about this a year ago in a speech at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.

Zelenskyy is scheduled to travel to Florida on Sunday to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Along with the peace plan, US security guarantees to Ukraine may also be discussed.

Putin's stern warning comes just before this crucial meeting, and after Russia launched around 500 drones and 40 missiles at Kyiv on Saturday killing at least one civilian and leaving dozens injured in the capital of the war-torn nation. Ukrainian officials said that the strikes also cut heat and electricity for thousands amid freezing winter conditions.

The Kremlin also mentioned that Putin had visited a Russian military command post, where he received briefings from Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and commanders overseeing the “Centre” and “East” groupings of Russian forces. Russia also claimed that their troops had captured several towns in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.

What Zelenskyy Said

These attacks on Saturday, just ahead of the peace talks, provoked Zelenskyy to remark that Russia’s recent barrage of drones and missiles shows that Moscow is not interested in ending the war.

Zelenskyy mentioned that the scale and timing of these strikes undercut any assurances from Moscow about seeking a ceasefire or meaningful negotiations. “Russian representatives may hold long conversations, but in reality their weapons speak for them”, Zelenskyy wrote.

Moreover, several reports suggest that Russia is using Belarusian territory to guide drone attacks toward Ukraine, Zelensky claimed.

Zelenskyy asserted that Ukraine is committed to a diplomatic resolution. However, he pointed out that Moscow’s actions demonstrated it wants to prolong the war.

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