The Kremlin said today that Russia has made significant progress in “demilitarizing” Ukraine, one of the goals announced by President Vladimir Putin when he launched a war against Ukraine 10 months ago.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave an assessment of Russia’s military progress when asked during a press conference about comments from Putin, who said on Thursday that Ukraine’s defense capability was close to zero.

“We can say that there is significant progress towards demilitarization,” Peskov replied.

Ukraine’s own defense potential – its military-industrial complex – has been severely damaged by Russian missile strikes.

But the West has sent tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine, and US President Joe Biden this week pledged to hand over the US Patriot anti-aircraft missile system and pledged to continue supporting it.

Putin called the Patriot system “quite old” and said Russia was adapting to it.

After suffering a string of setbacks in a so-called “special military operation,” Moscow is aiming for victory on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, where its forces have been trying for months to capture the small town of Bakhmut.

Biden, who has said he is ready to talk to Putin if the Russian leader is serious about finding a way to end the war, spoke of the difficulties he could face in trying to maintain a semblance of an end to the conflict.

Putin said yesterday that he wants to end the war as soon as possible and that this must be done through diplomacy. The United States said he had “absolutely failed to show that he was willing to negotiate.”

Peskov said Russia was unaware of the Ukrainian peace plan, which Kyiv is preparing to propose in February, according to the Wall Street Journal.

He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had so far ignored the “realities” of the situation – a reference to Russia’s announced annexation of four partially occupied territories, a move Kyiv and the West have dismissed as illegal.

Source: RES-IPE