NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Photo: Getty).
At a press conference on November 29, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg affirmed that NATO countries did not pressure Ukraine to sit at the negotiating table with Russia as rumored.
NATO leaders stressed the view that military aid to Ukraine is "the path to peace" and the stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield, the stronger its position at the negotiating table.
Mr. Stoltenberg said that NATO did not see any signs that Moscow had goodwill to find a peaceful solution to the current conflict in Ukraine.
According to NATO's leader, the West needs to show Russia that it cannot win on the battlefield, which means allies and partners need to continue to provide more military aid to Ukraine.
Commenting on Ukraine's six-month counter-offensive, Mr. Stoltenberg admitted that Ukraine has not made any significant progress on the battlefield, unlike last year when Kiev regained more than half of the territories controlled by Russia since the beginning of the war.
However, he said: "From the perspective of military success, Ukraine still achieved great results, such as attacking Russian military facilities deep behind the front line, destroying Moscow's planes and helicopters. Even without a fleet, Ukraine can still force Russia to move the Black Sea Fleet ships to Novorossiysk, helping to open the grain corridor in the Black Sea."
On the Russian side, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said there was no prospect of a ceasefire in Ukraine in 2024 despite reports that the US could push Kiev to sit at the negotiating table with Moscow.
This is because Kiev and the West have taken a completely unacceptable stance towards Moscow, Mr. Ryabkov explained.
"The United States leads the Western group that treats Ukrainian President Zelensky's peace formula as a mantra, considering it the only possible basis for an agreement. Such a basis will not help to reach any agreement but will hinder dialogue. Therefore, we are not ready to consider anything," the Russian diplomat said.
Asked whether Russia and Ukraine would reach a ceasefire next year, Deputy Minister Ryabkov said: "I don't think there will be a ceasefire. I hope that our special military operation will achieve its goals."
In another related development, speaking on the sidelines of the Ukraine-NATO meeting on November 29, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba declared that Kiev will never give up its goals in the current conflict with Russia.
"Our strategic mission remains unchanged, which is to restore the 1991 borders and nothing can prevent us from achieving that goal," he stressed.
Mr Kuleba said Ukrainian officials have heard suggestions that Kiev should make concessions to reach a peace deal with Russia. However, he made it clear that Ukraine will never make territorial concessions to Russia.
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