Russia is anticipating possible discord in the West and there is increasing pressure on Kiev in light of the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, during a meeting of the Russian Security Council, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Ukrainian troops, after 16 days of active combat operations, had reduced their activity and were regrouping. For his part, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said that Kiev's losses during the Ukrainian counterattack had already exceeded 13,000 casualties.
"Failures should still be talked about by professionals, that is, our military and representatives of other relevant services. But as for, shall we say, possible discord in the collective West and continuing extraordinary pressure on Kiev so that they continue to fight to the last soldier, well, this is obvious," Peskov said.
The comments by the Russian president's press secretary came in response to a question from journalists about whether the Ukrainian army's failures at the front would bring the two countries closer to finally sitting down at the negotiating table.
Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the operational meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council that it became "clear" that Western countries are ready to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.
"It seems that Ukraine's Western allies have really decided to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian," the president stressed.