Top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu stated on Thursday that the situation in the combat zone in Ukraine is unfavorable for Kyiv, and that the West should acknowledge this reality and engage in negotiations to end the conflict.

Axar.az reports that according to the Interfax news agency.

"For now, when the situation in the theater of military operations is not in favor of the Kyiv regime, the West is faced with a choice — to continue financing it and contributing to the destruction of the Ukrainian population, or to accept the current realities and begin negotiations," Shoigu was quoted as saying at a meeting of security council secretaries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Moscow.