KYIV: The Russian foreign minister has given an ultimatum to Kyiv to accept Moscow’s demands for ending the war or else suffer defeat on the battlefield.

Those demands include Ukraine recognising Russia’s conquest of a fifth of its territory. Kyiv, armed and supported by the United States and its NATO allies, has vowed to recover all occupied territory and to drive out all Russian soldiers.

“Our proposals for the demilitarisation and denazification of the territories controlled by the regime, the elimination of threats to Russia’s security emanating from there, including our new lands, are well known to the enemy,” TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying late on Monday.

“The point is simple: Fulfil them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army.”

Moscow continues to bomb ‘strategic’ cities; Lavrov says ‘normal ties’ with US not possible

Mr Lavrov said the US and its Nato allies together with Ukraine want to defeat Russia “on the battlefield” in order to destroy it.

“The actions of the countries of the collective West and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky under their control confirm the global nature of the Ukrainian crisis,” Lavrov said.

“It is no secret to anyone that the strategic goal of the United States and its NATO allies is to defeat Russia on the battlefield as a mechanism for significantly weakening or even destroying our country.”

President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, calling it a “special operation” to “denazify” and demilitarise Ukraine, which he said was a threat to Russia.

Kyiv and its Western allies say Moscow’s invasion was merely an imperialist land grab.

Mr Lavrov reiterated that Russia and the US cannot maintain a normal connection, blaming the administration of US President Joe Biden.

“It is objectively impossible to maintain normal communication with the Biden administration, which declares the infliction of a strategic defeat on our country as a goal,” he said.

He added that Washington’s “confrontational anti-Russian course is becoming more and more acute and comprehensive”.

US-Russia ties have fallen to their lowest point in decades amid the fallout from Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, and the consequent imposition of Western sanctions.

The United States has provided billions of dollars in support to Ukraine, with the latest $1.85 billion aid package announced last week, further angering Moscow.

Russian shelling

Russian forces shelled and bombed towns and cities in eastern and southern Ukraine on Tuesday.

Reuters footage showed fires burning in a large residential building in Bakhmut, while debris littered the streets and most buildings had had their windows blown out.

Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian attacks in the areas of two settlements in Luhansk province and six in Donetsk, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Tuesday.

In his nightly video message on Monday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky called the situation along the frontline in Donbas “difficult and painful”.

Gaining control of Bakhmut could give Russia a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Mr Zelensky said as a result of attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure nearly nine million people were currently without power.

Drone attack

In the latest setback that exposed gaps in Russia’s air defences, a drone believed to be Ukrainian penetrated hundreds of kilometres through Russian airspace on Monday, causing a deadly explosion at the main base for its strategic bombers.

Moscow said it had shot down the drone at its Engels air base, where three service members were killed. Ukraine did not comment, under its usual policy on incidents inside Russia. A suspected drone struck the same base on Dec. 5.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2022