Without an agreement acceptable to the Kremlin, Russian forces would continue their offensive.
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has said peace talks with Kyiv had reached a dead end, as Moscow’s forces on Tuesday bombarded Ukrainian military positions and residential areas in the country’s east and unleashed new rocket attacks.
The Russian leader claimed that Kyiv had deviated from agreements struck in Istanbul.
In his first extended comments on the war since last month, Putin on Tuesday, speaking publicly about Russia’s military activity after a prolonged silence on the issue, said that without an agreement acceptable to the Kremlin, Russian forces would continue their offensive.
“We reached a certain level of agreements in Istanbul, which stated that security guarantees for Ukraine would not spread to Crimea, Sevastopol and Donbas.
“We acted to create conditions to continue talks,” he added. “Instead, we faced the provocation in Bucha and, what’s most important; the Ukrainian side deviated from the Istanbul agreements.
“The security demands are one thing, and issues of regulating relations on Crimea, Sevastopol and Donbas are taken outside of those agreements. So we are back to the dead-end situation.”
“Ukraine’s 'inconsistency' on critical issues made it difficult to achieve a final agreement, and until we see that, the operation will continue to its complete end,” he claimed.
Putin called a civilian massacre in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, a “provocation” against Moscow. He said allegations that people died at the hands of Russian soldiers were “fake news” from the US.
Ukraine meanwhile has said Russia was responsible.
The Russian president added that his military operation in Ukraine was going according to plan.
“I often hear questions whether it is possible to move any faster. It is possible. It depends on the intensity of military action, and the intensity of military action is unfortunately one way or another linked with losses,” Putin said at a media conference with his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, according to Interfax.
“Our task is to achieve the set goals while minimising losses. And we will move rhythmically, calmly, according to plan, which was initially proposed by the general staff,” the Russian president said.
The activity in Ukraine “was only aimed at immobilising forces, attacking and destroying military infrastructure”, he added.
The latest figures from the UN Human Rights office show more than 1,800 civilians have been killed and almost 2,500 injured since the conflict began in February, Financial Times reports.