The goals of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have not yet been achieved, the Kremlin has said four years after Russian troops stormed the country.
Speaking in a press conference on Tuesday morning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the “special military operation” – Moscow’s name for the invasion – was ongoing and had not yet fulfilled its aims.
Moscow remains open to achieving its aims through diplomacy, Peskov said, without adding clarity on any further peace talks.
Peskov added that Moscow now felt it was in a much wider confrontation with Western nations after they intervened in the war through their support for Kyiv.
Volodymyr Zelensky, making the four-year anniversary of the war, also said that “Putin has not achieved his goals”, while Ukraine has preserved its independence and “will do everything to achieve peace and to ensure justice”.
In a television address on Tuesday morning, he said that Vladimir Putin still has not broken the Ukrainian people in a defiant message to the public on the fourth anniversary of the war.
Zelensky is due to welcome foreign dignitaries, including British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, to Kyiv for ceremonies later today.
