Kremlin on Kiev's Remark About Operation Timing: Kiev Can Stop Everything Before Day-End

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukraine could stop hostilities before the end of the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, adding that Kiev needs to order Ukrainian military to lay down their arms and fulfill the conditions of Moscow.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his address to G7 leaders had made clear that he wants to shorten the conflict with Russia.

"The Ukrainian side can stop everything before the end of the current day, we need an order for the nationalist units to lay down their arms, an order for the Ukrainian military to lay down their arms, and Russia's conditions must be met. Everything can end before the end of the day," Peskov told reporters.

Meanwhile, NATO member states are gathering for a three-day summit in Madrid on Tuesday, and the conflict in Ukraine is expected to dominate the agenda of the meetings.

Commenting on NATO chief's announcement that the alliance plans to build up its high readiness forces, Peskov said that the bloc was initially aimed at aggression and currently continues to demonstrate its essence.

"NATO is a fairly aggressive bloc. It is a bloc that was created for the purpose of confrontation, and it continues to demonstrate its essence and fulfill its default tasks: pushing NATO's infrastructure towards our borders. This is a process that has been going on for two decades, or even more, It has its continuation, we are well aware of this," Peskov told reporters.

On Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will discuss the transformation of its response force and decide to increase the number of its high readiness forces to over 300,000 during the summit in Madrid.

Peskov also commented on G7's plans to consider a price cap on Russian energy resources. He said that any changes in prices for Russian gas are subject to negotiations with energy giant Gazprom.

"It depends on directions, depends on the decision that Gazprom will make. They will probably put conditions on changing the terms of existing contracts and changing the price, as far as it is legally possible, and so on ... This is subject to negotiations," Peskov told reporters.