BRATISLAVA, Dec 28, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Slovakia on Friday confirmed its
readiness to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, despite Kyiv's
accusation that it is playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir
Putin.

The Russian leader on Thursday called it "acceptable" for the country to
become a "platform" for dialogue over the conflict, which US President-elect
Donald Trump has said he could end after he takes office in January.

That prospect has raised concerns in Kyiv that a settlement could be imposed
on terms favourable to Moscow, as Ukraine struggles on the battlefield.

"If someone wants to organize peace talks in Slovakia, we will be ready and
hospitable," the country's Prime Minister Robert Fico posted late Friday on
Facebook.

Earlier, Slovakia's Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said on Facebook: "We offer
Slovak soil for such negotiations."

The moves come nearly three years after the start of the full-scale Russian
assault on Ukraine.

Putin announced Thursday that Slovakia had offered to be a "platform" for
possible peace talks and that Russia was "not against it", praising
Bratislava's "neutral position".

But Putin reiterated his vow that his country would achieve "all the
objectives in Ukraine".

- Slovak-Russian ties -

Blanar said any talks must take place "with the participation of all parties,
and therefore also of Russia", unlike a previous summit in June in
Switzerland.

"We consider the statement of the Russian president as a positive signal to
end this war, this bloodshed and this destruction as soon as possible," the
minister said.

He said Slovakia had told Kyiv in October that it was available to host peace
talks.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is one of only a handful of European
leaders who have remained close to the Kremlin. He met with Putin in Moscow
on December 22, provoking an angry reaction from Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday accused Fico of wanting to
"help" Putin by continuing to import Russian gas.

Despite being a NATO and European Union member, Slovakia has moved closer to
Russia since the return to power of the nationalist Fico in late 2023.

Fico has stopped all military aid to Ukraine and accuses Kyiv of jeopardising
his country's supply of Russian gas, which he wants to keep buying.

Fico, in his Facebook post, said that "by stopping the gas transit, President
Zelensky will cause billions of damage to the EU."

"It seems that some big people in the EU don't mind. The main thing is that
in the name of an unrealistic goal of weakening Russia, Slavs will continue
to kill each other," he continued.

- North Korean soldier -

Kyiv says Russia is intensifying its offensive, using thousands of North
Korean troops and launching strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in the
depths of winter.

Zelensky said Friday that "several" wounded North Korean soldiers died after
being captured by Ukrainian forces, accusing Russia of throwing them into
battle with "minimal protection".

South Korea's spy agency said earlier on Friday that a North Korean soldier
who was captured while fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine had died of
his wounds. Zelensky did not specify how many North Koreans had died after
being captured by Ukrainian troops.

Kyiv and its allies say Pyongyang has deployed thousands of troops to
reinforce Russia's military, including in the Kursk border region where
Ukraine mounted a shock incursion in August.

Zelensky earlier said that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been
"killed or wounded" so far as they joined Russian troops in combat.

- Azerbaijan plane probe -

The Ukraine war meanwhile fed into investigations of an Azerbaijan Airlines
plane crash in Kazakhstan this week.

The airline and Azerbaijan's transport minister said Friday that the plane
suffered physical "external interference", citing preliminary results of an
investigation, adding to speculation it was hit by a Russian air defence
system.

The jet crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday, killing 38 of the
67 people on board, after attempting to land at its destination in the
Russian city of Grozny and then diverting far off course across the Caspian
Sea.

Russia's aviation chief said Friday that Grozny was being attacked by
Ukrainian drones at the time the plane had tried to land.

Zelensky pointed the finger at Moscow but the Kremlin has declined to comment
on reports the plane was accidentally shot down by Russian air defence
missiles.