Moscow must be prepared for protracted hostilities, as Europe will not allow the Ukrainian conflict to be settled in the near future, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik said in an interview with TASS.

“We fully understand that the West has chosen to prolong the conflict and completely rejected every path toward a peaceful settlement. All attempts at dialogue run up against the Europeans’ uncompromising determination to derail any possibility of reaching an agreement. This trend is unlikely to be reversed in the near future. Europe will continue funding Ukraine. For our part, we must be prepared for fairly prolonged military action, guided by a carefully considered strategy,” the diplomat said.