Russia Planning Fresh 2023 Push to 'Conquer' Ukraine Despite Issues—Kyiv FM

Russian units bogged down in Ukraine still hope to return to offensive operations early next year despite successive defeats and myriad military problems, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday.

Speaking with journalists via video link from the Foreign Ministry's bomb shelter amid an ongoing air raid warning for Kyiv, Kuleba told Newsweek the Russian military is not yet entirely exhausted despite nearly 10 months of warfare and several theater-level defeats.

"I think the Russian capability to conduct an offensive, maybe a large offensive, may be restored somewhere by the end of January, February," Kuleba said. "That's what they're trying to do. And we, of course, do everything possible to prevent it from happening."

"I'm not saying for certain that this is happening, but in their best case scenario—taking into account the conscription they have announced, and the training of new conscripts, and the movement of their heavy weapons across the country—they definitely still keep hope that they will be able to break through our lines and advance deeper into Ukraine."

"We do everything to prevent it from happening, and I firmly believe that we will succeed and they won't be able to move any further into Ukraine."

Kuleba said Moscow's ambitious war goals have not changed since February 24, and called on Western partners not to listen to "empty statements" from the Kremlin.

"No one should be fooled," Kuleba said. "Russia has not changed its ultimatums and still wants to conquer all of Ukraine. What they want right now is not peace, but a pause in aggression to continue it later. We will not play this game."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said a negotiated settlement might be needed to end the ongoing war, though has shown no signs of trimming his war goals of regime change in Kyiv and the annexation of at least four eastern and southern Ukrainian territories where heavy fighting is ongoing.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, has said there will be no fresh talks with Russia until all occupying troops return to their pre-invasion positions. He and other Ukrainian leaders have also made clear their goal of the full liberation of all territory occupied by Russia since 2014, i.e. Crimea and the eastern Donbas region.

Kyiv's Western partners in the European Union and NATO have adopted a common position that only Ukraine can decide how and when to enter new negotiations with Moscow. Some leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, have framed themselves as more open to talks than more hawkish NATO allies.

Remarks to this end have prompted concern in Ukraine and abroad of a Franco-German effort to coax Kyiv into peace talks against its will. Ukraine is particularly sensitive to this prospect given the Paris-Berlin role in the Minsk accords that failed to resolve Russia's first invasion in 2014.

Asked if Ukraine is facing pressure from foreign partners to make concessions, Kuleba responded: "The short answer to the question is no. We know that some feel tempted to launch this conversation. But they know how Ukraine would react and therefore they do not launch it."

Update 12/13/22; 11:08 a.m. EST: This article was updated to include additional quotes and context.