SIMFEROPOL, November 9. /TASS/. With the dire state of the Ukrainian economy, the crisis within its government and army, and the public's conflict fatigue, it's clear that a peace deal is in the country's best interests now, a senior Crimean lawmaker told TASS.

"It is important to understand that today there are objective prerequisites for peace. They are the deplorable state of Ukraine’s statehood, its army and economy, people’s fatigue of living without electricity, heating, and gas," said speaker of the Crimean State Council (legislature) Vladimir Konstantinov.

Despite this, in his words, Europe's leadership will seek to protract the conflict in Ukraine, demanding that the United States continue supplying Ukraine with weapons, including Patriot systems. "Europeans are not dying on the frontlines, and they have money for weapons. And they have every desire to do harm to Russia. Therefore, although everything is moving towards peace, the timeline for achieving it is still unclear," Konstantinov said.

Commenting on EU's desire to take part in talks on Ukraine, he stressed that this is driven solely by their pursuit of their own interests. For these ends, the Europeans will try to pressure US President Donald Trump to stay on their side, possibly even through blackmail, he noted, adding that one of their ultimate goals is to drag Ukraine into NATO.