Russia's goals in Ukraine now can only be achieved by military means - Kremlin

Russia's goals in Ukraine can only be achieved by military means at the moment, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on March 13.

"For us, the absolute priority continues and will always remain the achievement of the goals set. At the moment they can only be achieved by military means," TASS reports, citing the Kremlin spokesman.

At the same time, the Kremlin does not yet see any preconditions for the transition of the situation in Ukraine to a peaceful course.

"So far there are no preconditions for the transition of the process into a peaceful course," Peskov said.

He disagreed with former chairman of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger’s remark that the West should think about a peace process in Ukraine and create a contact group. "No, we don't think so," Peskov said when asked if the Kremlin believed that such proposals were right for the Western countries.

Earlier, Ischinger wrote in an article for the Der Tagesspiegel newspaper, saying that the West should not force Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, but should already be thinking about what the peace process could be. He suggested creating a mediation group that could play a role in possible negotiations at the appropriate moment. In his opinion, this group should include at least the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and France. As secondary candidates, Ischinger listed the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), NATO, and a number of countries: Spain, Canada, Poland, and the Baltic states. According to the expert, representatives of this mediation group should constantly meet at the level of foreign ministers.