Russia will achieve its goal of ensuring Ukraine's neutral status and would prefer to do that through talks, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Moscow's aims do not include overthrowing the Kyiv government and it hopes to achieve more significant progress in the next round of talks with Ukraine, Zakharova said in a briefing, adding that Russia's military operation was going strictly in line with its plan.

Zakharova also demanded that the United States explain why it had supported what Moscow casts as a military biological programme in Ukraine. The allegation has been denied by Kyiv and described as absurd by a Pentagon spokesman.

“We confirm facts, unearthed as part of the special military operations, which testify to an emergency attempt to erase evidence of military biological programmes,” Zakharova told reporters.

“We are not talking here about peaceful uses or scientific goals. What were you up to there? These (programmes) were financed by the US Department of Defence.”

“The US Defence Department and the presidential administration of the United States are obliged to officially explain to the global community, officially, not through talking heads, about the programmes in Ukraine. We demand details. We demand and the world awaits,” she added.

In response to earlier Russian allegations about the purported military biological programme in Ukraine, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday: “This absurd Russian misinformation is patently false”. (Reuters)