"The Kiev regime is openly talking about its aggressive plans, terrorist plans against the infrastructure of the Russian Federation. Thus, it once again demonstrates their nature,” the spokesman told reporters.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he is preparing a plan for a new counteroffensive and wants to include the destruction of the Crimean Bridge in it.
The new threats from Zelensky once again reveal the essence of the Kiev regime and prove the correctness of the decision to start the special military operation, Peskov noted.
"This once again demonstrates its essence. It thereby proves the absolute correctness of the decisions made by the President [Putin] to start the special military operation," he told reporters.
The previous Ukrainian counteroffensive began on June 4, 2023, and three months later, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated: "The counteroffensive is not just stalled - it's a failure." In January, Putin repeated that Ukraine had failed in its counteroffensive, the initiative was in the hands of the Russian Armed Forces, and if this continued, the issue of Ukrainian statehood would soon arise.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported on December 19, 2023, that during their counteroffensive, Ukraine's Armed Forces lost 159,000 soldiers, 121 aircraft, 766 tanks, including 37 Leopards. Earlier, Shoigu stated that the supply of Western weapons and the deployment of strategic reserves by the Ukrainian command did not change the situation on the battlefield.
Nevertheless, Russia is open to negotiations on Ukraine, and the process is preferable for Russia, Peskov said.
"President Putin has repeatedly emphasized that we maintain openness to the negotiation process. This process is preferable for us to solve our tasks. But in conditions when Ukrainians have banned this negotiation process themselves, we do not see any horizons ahead," Peskov said, answering a question about whether Russia considers negotiations on Ukraine unpromising and under what conditions Russia would agree to participate in such summits.
Peskov emphasized that any negotiation process on Ukraine without Russia is meaningless and essentially a "waste of time."
On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Switzerland plans to hold a peace summit on Ukraine in mid-June with the participation of 80 to 100 countries. In turn, Vladimir Khokhlov, the press secretary of the Russian Embassy in Bern, told Sputnik that Switzerland has so far not sent invitations to Russia to participate in the summit, and Moscow would not participate in any case. He added that the idea of a peace conference promoted by the organizers is unacceptable for Russia because "it is about another version of pushing through the unviable 'peace formula,' which does not take into account Russian interests."
"First, it is necessary to understand what we are talking about there, what kind of peace formula, this is the first thing. Secondly, we have repeatedly said that, of course, the negotiation process without Russia is meaningless and, in fact, is a negotiation process in vain," Peskov told reporters.
Commenting on media reports that the summit will consider the draft peace plan that was discussed in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 as a basis, the official said that geopolitical changes cannot be ignored.
"Indeed, a document was agreed upon. But in two years ... the situation has changed. And the geopolitical reality is very different from what it was in March 2022. And it would be short-sighted not to take this into account in any negotiations," Peskov said.