KYIV: Russia on Thursday (Nov 7) demanded that Kyiv’s allies enter into negotiations with Moscow in order to halt its brutish attacks on Ukrainians, as the capital fended off a large-scale drone barrage overnight.
AFP journalists in Kyiv heard Ukrainian air defence units shooting down the Russian drones throughout the night while air raid sirens echoed out over the city.
The head of Russia’s Security Council Sergei Shoigu made the call for negotiations, saying the West faced a choice between entering into talks with Moscow on the war or the continuing “destruction” of Ukraine’s population.
“Now, when the situation in the theatre of combat is not in Kyiv’s favour, the West is faced with a choice,” Shoigu said at a meeting with defence officials of other former Soviet states.
“To continue financing (Kyiv) and the destruction of the Ukrainian population or recognise the current realities and start negotiating,” the former defence minister said.
They were among the first comments from a Russian official since Donald Trump, who has boasted he could end the war in a single day, was confirmed to have been elected president of the United States – Ukraine’s main political and military ally.
And his comments came as Ukrainian officials were taking stock after another night of aerial bombardments across the country and while Moscow claimed the capture of yet another village in east Ukraine.
Moscow said its forces had wrested control of Kreminna Balka, a village that had a pre-war population of fewer than 50 people in the industrial Donetsk region where Ukrainian defences have been pushed back again and again.
