The prospect of the EU forcing Russia to negotiate peace by military means

According to RIA Novosti on October 15, the European Union's (EU) top diplomat Josep Borrell said that the possibility of forcing Russia to sign a ceasefire agreement by military means seems to be a very distant prospect.

“There is a strategic logic in strengthening Ukraine politically and militarily to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, but I have to admit that this seems a very distant prospect,” Josep Borrell said after a meeting of the EU Foreign Office Council in Luxembourg.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that there are currently no serious proposals to resolve the Ukrainian conflict; meanwhile, data on this topic appearing in the Western media are just guesses.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had no choice but to achieve victory in its special military operation in Ukraine. He added that Russia should take the West's stance seriously, as these countries intend to defeat Russia both "strategically and tactically".

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The two sides negotiated in the early days of the conflict, but the negotiations collapsed in late March 2022 and have been deadlocked ever since. Moscow announced that peace talks would only be based on the situation on the ground, including Kiev's recognition of the annexation of some territories to Russia and Ukraine's neutrality and refusal to join a military alliance.

Meanwhile, Ukraine affirmed that it would only negotiate on the basis of the peace formula proposed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.