Kremlin says Moscow's goals must be accepted for Ukraine conflict resolution

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia's fundamental condition for resolving the conflict with Ukraine is the acceptance of Moscow's stated objectives. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Peskov said the conflict cannot be frozen at this stage because of the stance of the Ukrainian government. Peskov noted that Russia's conditions were made public two years ago and that, if the Kyiv leadership takes the necessary decisions, everything could be halted by the end of the day. He made the remarks in response to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's proposal, raised during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Omsk, to freeze the conflict. Russia has previously demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and abandon any move to join NATO or other alliances. Peskov stressed that those conditions remain unchanged.