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Russia emphasized this Friday in the Security Council of the UN that it is willing to continue the war in Ukraine -which has already been going on for over three years- "as long as necessary" and will only cease if "the threats" to its borders and "the anti-Russian Nazi education in neighboring states" disappear.
"If necessary, we will continue fighting for as long as it takes," proclaimed Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, before the Council, who reiterated, as he does in every session, how, according to him, the rights of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine are violated daily. "Anti-Russian language, glorification of Hitler's accomplices Hitler and dissemination of Nazism in Ukraine", and all this while "our Western colleagues turn a deaf ear and remain silent", declared the ambassador.Nebenzia's words come as Russia has launched a new offensive in the Sumy region (northeast of Ukraine), where Russia controls more than 90 square kilometers of territory and has intensified attacks against the civilian population.
Ukrainian military analysts believe that the offensive aims both to increase pressure on the Ukrainian government in order to impose Russian demands and to prevent it from reinforcing the defense in the eastern region of Donetsk, Russia's priority objective.
"It is senseless to try to isolate Russia," the ambassador to the Security Council recalled today, but even so, he threw down the gauntlet of dialogue to an imprecise recipient: "If you are willing to discuss options for coexistence, or even to cooperate, then we can talk. We have never rejected dialogue. The option is yours," he concluded.
A meeting between delegations from Russia and Ukraine is expected in Istanbul on Monday to negotiate the end of the war, although there is not much optimism about it.
Russia has announced that it will present its conditions for laying down arms at that same meeting in Istanbul, while Ukraine - which has already communicated its position to the Russians - demands to receive the document beforehand in order to be able to analyze it before sitting down to negotiate.
