The Kremlin said on Thursday that Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander Valery Zaluzhnyi was wrong to talk of the conflict in Ukraine moving towards a new stage of static fighting as Russia would achieve all of its aims.
Asked by reporters if Zaluzhnyi was right the conflict was moving toward an impasse, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No, it has not reached a stalemate."
Peskov said that all of Russia's aims would be achieved and said it was absurd for Kyiv to talk about victory over Russia on the battlefield.
"The Kyiv regime has long needed to understand that even talking about some sort of prospect of victory on the battlefield is absurd. The sooner the Kyiv regime understands this for itself, the sooner some prospects will open up," he said.
Peskov was responding to an essay by Zaluzhnyi in the Economist in which he said the war was moving towards a new stage of static and attritional fighting, a phase that could allow Moscow to rebuild its military power.