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Hostilities in Ukraine are still highly probable and Kiev’s aggressive rhetoric suggests a possible military scenario in Donbass, TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Thursday.

"Military operations in Ukraine are still highly probable and this is a cause for special concern, a concern for us," the Russian presidential spokesman emphasized.

"As a whole, we see sufficient, perhaps, even aggressive rhetoric, as we can put it, used by the Ukrainian authorities. We see stepped-up provocative actions along the lines of engagement," Peskov noted.

While talking about the need for direct negotiations with Russia on the Donbass situation, Ukraine "is obstinately trying to depict Russia as a conflicting party," the Kremlin spokesman pointed out.

At the same time, Kiev is acting in a way to make any talks impossible, Peskov stressed.

In particular, the Ukrainian authorities are not honoring the Minsk Accords on settling the situation in eastern Ukraine and they adopt laws that run counter to these agreements, the Kremlin press secretary specified.

"All these factors certainly suggest that the Ukrainian leadership de-facto does not rule out a military scenario for resolving the situation and does not exclude the commencement of combat operations against the self-proclaimed republics. The situation remains tense," Peskov insisted.

As the Kremlin spokesman recalled, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky highlighted in his speech to the national parliament on December 1 that the country had a strong army and was ready to employ it.

"With regard to the phrase used by the head of state that Ukraine has a strong and powerful army: ‘We must not be afraid of telling the truth and we want to return Donbass - let us do it.’ This is the quote," Peskov specified, commenting on Zelensky’s remarks.

"We would like to ask: let’s do what? Amid this aggressive rhetoric, we must call a spade a spade and we are bound to feel concerned about Donbass," the Russian presidential spokesman underscored.