The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin remains open to achieving Russia's goals through diplomacy, but added that Moscow is creating a wider buffer zone in Ukraine in response to Kiev's actions, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
"While Kiev is trying to escalate [the conflict], we continue to create a wider security zone, a buffer zone – "President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin has already spoken about this many times," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained, quoted by TASS.
He was responding to a question about a Reuters report from yesterday in which three sources close to the Kremlin told the agency that Ukraine's recent drone strikes on Russian oil refineries and ports were strengthening Putin's determination to continue the fighting for now.
Peskov added that Moscow was open to a peaceful settlement, but that, he said, due to Ukraine's lack of desire, Russia was continuing its military campaign.
Peskov accused Ukraine of escalating what Moscow called "terrorist" actions against the Russian-controlled Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which he said was extremely dangerous. The Kremlin spokesman accused Ukraine of striking civilian infrastructure and infrastructure directly related to the power plant.
Kiev is still "far from a turning point in the war", although Russian troops have significantly slowed their advance on the front in Ukraine in the first half of this year, Ukrainian army commander Oleksandr Syrsky said today, quoted by Agence France-Presse, BTA reported.
In a summary published today on Telegram, the general pointed out that Russia has failed to achieve the goals of its offensive, despite having "almost twice as many personnel and equipment".
According to him, Russian forces, which had undertaken "active offensive operations in 13 sectors of the front", are now continuing to conduct them in at most "six or seven" and suffer heavy losses, while Kiev pursues a strategy of attrition.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure in recent months have led to fuel shortages in many Russian regions and in Crimea - the peninsula annexed in 2014, AFP notes.