Putin threatens to achieve "all goals" by force if Ukraine rejects peace

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was in no hurry for peace and if it did not want to resolve the conflict peacefully, Moscow would accomplish "all its goals" by force.

Putin's remarks on December 27, reported by state news agency TASS, followed a vast Russian drone and missile attack that prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to say Russia was demonstrating its wish to continue the war while Kyiv wanted peace.

Zelenskyy is to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday to seek a resolution to the war Putin launched nearly four years ago with a full-scale invasion of Russia's smaller neighbour.

Russian commanders told Putin during an inspection visit that Moscow's forces had captured the towns of Myrnohrad, Rodynske and Artemivka in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk, as well as Huliaipole and Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhzhia region, the Kremlin said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine's military rejected Russia's assertions about Huliaipole and Myrnohrad as false statements. The situation in both places remains "difficult" but "defensive operations" by Ukrainian troops are ongoing, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a statement on social media.

By Khagan Isayev