The Kremlin said on Friday that President Vladimir Putin remained open to achieving Russia's objectives through diplomacy, but that Moscow was carving out a wider buffer zone in Ukraine in response to Kyiv's escalatory actions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about a Reuters article a day earlier in which three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters that Ukraine's recent drone strikes on Russia's oil refineries and ports were strengthening Putin's resolve to keep fighting for now. Peskov said Russia believed that Kyiv had no desire for talks at the moments and that Moscow was therefore continuing its military campaign in Ukraine.
