President Zelensky says conflict with Russia must stop

According to Ria Novosti, in an audio recording published on the personal Facebook page of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kiev opposed freezing the conflict with Russia.

"A frozen conflict is like a sleeping volcano, and will surely wake up. Therefore, we cannot accept a frozen conflict in a stalemate," President Zelensky said.

According to the Ukrainian leader, that is why Kiev must find a way to end the war. President Zelensky said that ending the conflict could be different, but he wants to achieve it on Kiev's terms. At the same time, he also admitted that Ukraine has lost too many people in the nearly 2-year conflict with Russia.

Russia has repeatedly expressed its readiness for negotiations, but Kiev has issued a decree prohibiting them, RIA Novosti reported. At the end of October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow does not shy away from serious proposals that could help reduce the level of confrontation in relations with Ukraine. However, this has not been implemented since April 2022, when the West tried to block it.

The Kremlin also noted that the situation in Ukraine could change to peace, given the current situation, but there are no preconditions for it at this point. At the same time, for Moscow, achieving the goals of the special military operation remains an absolute priority./.