The Kremlin on Thursday denied a claim from Kyiv’s most senior military official that the nearly two-year conflict in Ukraine had reached a stalemate.
“No, it has not reached a deadlock,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding: “Russia is steadily carrying out the special military operation. All the goals that were set should be fulfilled”.
‘Russia is steadily carrying out the special military operation. All the goals that were set should be fulfilled,’ he added, using the Kremlin’s name for the full-scale military intervention.
Peskov was responding to an interview in British media with Ukraine’s General Valery Zaluzhny, who said the two sides had reached an impasse along the sprawling frontline.
‘Just like in the First World War, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,’ he told the Economist, adding that: ‘There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.’
Earlier this year, Ukrainian forces began a counteroffensive against well-established Russian fortifications, but their progress has been slow.
Russian soldiers recently began a new offensive effort to completely encircle the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, having achieved only modest headway in their own offensive earlier this year.
However, earlier on Thursday, a military spokeswoman for Ukraine stated that Russian attacks on the industrial center had decreased.
Despite without complete military authority, Russian President Vladimir Putin said last year that four areas in eastern and southern Ukraine had been annexed.
