Kremlin: No peaceful settlement in Ukraine as long as Kiev serves as West’s tool in war with Russia

Russia has dismissed the possibility of a peaceful settlement for the ongoing war with Ukraine, saying necessary preconditions for such a settlement are currently missing.

The comment was made by the Kremlin spokesman on Monday, after he was asked about the possibility of a peaceful settlement between Russia and Ukraine under the existing circumstances.

"Is it possible to reach a peaceful settlement now with the participation of the Kiev regime and in the context of its current stance? ... No, it is impossible. There are no prerequisites for this. [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin said this in particular," Dmitry Peskov said.

"The Kiev regime does not wish and cannot wish peace as long as it is used exclusively as a tool in the collective West’s war against Russia," the Kremlin spokesman added.

Peskov's remarks came after Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday that Washington’s pursuit of a strategic military defeat of Moscow “on the battlefield” constitutes an obstacle to the possibility of peace talks on Ukraine.

“This is a principled stance by the US administration, which not simply thinks about but [has] made it its mission - the necessity of not simply achieving results but a strategic defeat of our country on the battlefield,” Zakharova said.

A top Russian legislator also said in an interview with a local media outlet that the US might heighten the war in Ukraine during its 2024 presidential elections in an effort by both dominant political parties to win votes.

“If one of the parties feels that it needs to escalate the situation in Ukraine in order to gain more votes in the elections, it will do so,” deputy speaker of Russia's Federation Council (upper house of parliament), Konstantin Kosachev, said.

According to Kosachev, further escalation of the military conflict through the use of heavier types of weapons could increase the likelihood of a nuclear confrontation between the two sides, saying: "Fortunately, we have not yet reached that threshold, but there is a risk of approaching it."

Moscow says it started what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine in order to defend the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev, and also to "de-Nazify" its neighbor.

Russia holds that the West's anti-Russian agendas, including its eagerness for inclusion of Ukraine in NATO -- and, therefore, the Western military alliance's expansion right up to Russia's borders -- forced Moscow to launch the war on the ex-Soviet Republic.