Western arms to Ukraine preventing ‘quick’ end to conflict: Kremlin

The Kremlin said on Thursday that the West is preventing Russia from ending its military campaign in Ukraine “quick” by supplying weaponry to the pro-Western country.

Asked about a New York Times report that US intelligence helped Ukraine kill a number of Russian generals, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The United States, Britain, NATO as a whole hand over intelligence… to Ukraine’s armed forces on a permanent basis.

“Coupled with the flow of weapons that these countries are sending to Ukraine, these are all actions that do not contribute to the quick completion of the operation,” he said.

Peskov added, however, that this was “incapable of hindering the achievement” of the goals of Russia’s military operation.

Peskov also claimed that humanitarian corridors to get civilians out of Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant were functioning, after the Russian army announced a three-day ceasefire at the site.

“The corridors are functioning today,” he said, adding that the steelworks remained besieged by Russian forces.

After Russian forces took control of the shattered port city in southeastern Ukraine, civilians and hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers remain trapped within the massive facility.