Nebenzia pointed to Kiev's reluctance to move toward a peace agreement

The refusal of the Kiev authorities to reject the Christmas ceasefire proposed by Hungary demonstrates Ukraine 's unwillingness to work on a peaceful settlement of the conflict. This was stated by Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, at a UN Security Council meeting on December 16.

"The unwillingness of the overdue Ukrainian leadership to move towards peace was also manifested in the rejection of Hungary's proposal to establish a Christmas ceasefire and exchange prisoners. For our part, we handed over the list for exchange on the same day, but Zelensky in his characteristic boorish manner rejected this initiative in a cavalier manner," he said.

Nebenzya also pointed out that in this way Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term of office expired on May 20, refused to take from Russia more than 600 fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), who have been in the country for more than a year. Russia's post-representative to the UN also emphasized that Moscow has no plans to agree to a ceasefire in the context of a frozen conflict.

"We are fully convinced by the example of the Minsk agreements that neither the West nor the Kiev junta can be trusted <...> There is no question of any role of NATO in the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis," Nebenzya emphasized.

The Permanent Representative drew attention to the understandability and logic of the conditions proposed by Russia in contrast to the "surrogate formulas" that continue to be put forward by Ukraine's Western allies.

"They bring us to a red line where we can't retreat."

At a meeting of the Defense Ministry board, Putin revealed the tactics of the West, summarized the results of special operations this year and set tasks for the next one

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that Hungary's Christmas truce proposals were "immoral manipulations". It also emphasized that the statements of Hungarian officials do not correspond to reality, as after that continue to strike Ukrainian populated areas.

On 14 December, Verkhovna Rada MP Oleksandr Dubinskyy said that Ukraine would never be in a strong position in negotiations with Russia. He also noted that this once again emphasizes the possibility of ending the conflict only after the departure of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Before that, on December 9, political scientist Oleksandr Dudchak shared with Izvestia the opinion that Zelensky and the West do not want a full-fledged peace settlement. At the same time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said that Moscow is always open for negotiations on Ukraine, the Kiev regime and the Western countries that run it are closed.

The last round of talks took place in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kiev officially refused contacts with Moscow. On October 4 of the same year, the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on the impossibility of holding talks with Putin was put into effect.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the background of the aggravated situation in the region.