Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he does not intend to hold any negotiations with Russia unless they pullout their troops.
Zelensky made the remarks on Sunday while commenting on reports that US and European officials had spoken with his government about negotiations to end the war.
“For today, I don’t have any relations with the Russians, and they know my position,” he said, adding: “They have to go out from our territory, only after that, the world can switch on diplomacy.”
He said the conflict had reached a “difficult situation”.
“On the frontline, it is not a secret, we don’t have air defense. That’s why Russia controls the sky. If they control all the sky, until the moment when we get air defense, we can’t move quickly forward,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russians keep pounding Ukrainians. A senior Ukrainian commander said the conflict which has now lasted for more than 600 days was deadlocked.
On Friday, a Russian missile strike killed over 20 Ukrainian soldiers from an assault brigade in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.
“On November 3, the enemy conducted insidious attacks in the direction of Zaporizhzhia,” the Ukrainian army said later on Saturday.
“In particular, it fired an Iskander-M missile at the personnel of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, killing the soldiers and causing injuries of varying severity to local residents,” the army added.
Ukraine’s western Zakarpattia region, where the assault brigade is based, will observe a three-day mourning period starting today (Monday), local governor Victor Mykyta said.
Ukraine has opened an investigation to obtain circumstances that led to what it described as a “tragedy” that occurred during an “award ceremony”.
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov ordered a full investigation, “We must make every effort to protect our people and give honest answers to the families and friends of the fallen soldiers,” he said Saturday evening.