Zakharova: Ukraine Prepares to Solve "Donbass" Conflict by Force 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, announced today, Friday, that Ukraine is preparing to resolve the conflict in the " Donbass " in the east of the country by force, noting that Ukraine’s military budget has been increased by nearly 20 percent.

"Instead of putting an end to the eight-year civil war, it seems that Kiev is preparing to solve the problem in Donbass by force," Zakharova said in her weekly press briefing on Friday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added: "On the seventeenth of this December, the Ukrainian Prime Minister announced the increase in the country's military budget over the next year to nearly $12 billion, meaning that the military budget in Ukraine has increased by 20 percent."

From another context, Zakharova announced Russia's readiness to hold a direct dialogue with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on security guarantees.

"We have received from the alliance a proposal to convene a Russia-NATO Council at the ambassadorial level," Zakharova said, during her weekly press conference, today (Friday).

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added, "I can confirm that we have received this proposal, and it is currently being considered in practice, that is, how it can be done."

She stressed her country’s readiness to hold a direct dialogue with NATO on the Russian project on agreements on security guarantees with Russia and abandoning the expansion of the alliance to the east, and the deployment of offensive systems very close to the Russian borders.