WASHINGTON, Nov 7 The US sees no need to motivate Ukraine to talks with Russia and consider its refusal to engage in dialogue under President Vladimir Putin nothing more than a «modality issue» that can be resolved by the parties to the conflict, State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
He accused Russia of unwillingness to negotiate, urging the opposite, curtailing hostilities.
«Our Ukrainian partners do not need any pressure in order to motivate them to end the war. No one suffered from it more than the Ukrainian people, no one wants it to end more than the Ukrainian people and government,» Price said at a briefing.
When asked about Volodymyr Zelensky's refusal to negotiate with Putin, he replied: «You are asking about the modalities of the negotiations and, obviously … the details of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine should be oprah divided between Russia and Ukraine.»
«Ukrainians will determine their representatives if and when the conditions for negotiations are ripe. They will determine who they are willing to talk to,» Price added.
He stressed that neither the United States nor their «Ukrainian partners» are pursuing the goal of «regime change» in Russia.
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the Russian Federation remains open to negotiations with Ukraine, but at the moment there is no way to continue them.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called it the goal of «protecting people who for eight years are subjected to bullying, genocide by the Kyiv regime.» To this end, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass.
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