Peace talks with Ukraine 'make no sense' now: Russia's foreign minister

"It doesn't make any sense in the current situation," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state media in an interview, referring to peace talks with Kyiv.

Russia said Wednesday that holding peace talks with Ukraine made no sense "in the current situation" as Moscow presses ahead with its offensive in the pro-Western country.

A local resident helps firefighters to put out a fire in a yard of a house in the town of Bakhmut following an airstrike. (AFP)

"It doesn't make any sense in the current situation," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state media in an interview, referring to peace talks with Kyiv.

Lavrov said that the first rounds of talks with Ukraine proved that Kyiv had no "desire to discuss anything in earnest."

"They simply will never be able to articulate anything that would deserve the serious attention of serious people," he added.

"We've already figured it out."

Talks between Russia and Ukraine largely ground to a halt in mid-April, Lavrov said.

Russia's top diplomat also said that Moscow's military aims in Ukraine were no longer focused "only" on the country's east, adding that supplies of Western weapons had changed the Kremlin's calculus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24.