Moscow: The war in Ukraine should end as quickly as possible, according to Vladimir Putin, who has stated that Russia is aiming for a swift resolution.

“Our goal is… to end this conflict. We are striving for this”, he told reporters. “We will seek to make sure that it all ends, and the sooner, the better”.

This was the first time that Putin called it a ‘war’ instead of calling it ‘a special military operation’.

The remark was made soon after Volodymyr Zelensky’s famous trip to America. As part of the US’s largest commitment to Ukraine to date, US President Joe Biden increased arms shipments and pledged to provide Patriot surface-to-air missiles. The president of Ukraine received a high-profile VIP welcome from Biden on December 22.

By claiming that Russia would find a method to resist it, Putin downplayed the relevance of the Patriot air defence system that Biden promised to give to Zelensky. He said Russia would “crack” the Patriots. Putin also called the Patriot “quite old” and said such actions could only prolong the conflict.

Biden’s actions, according to Russia, have demonstrated that the US is at war indirectly with Russia. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, claimed that Biden and Zelenskyy had not demonstrated that they were prepared to hear Russia’s concerns. Zelenskyy was never warned for the ongoing shelling of populated areas in Donbas’ cities and villages, nor were any sincere pleas for peace heard, Peskov said.