Kurdish authorities on Wednesday offered to put the result of the referendum for independence from Iraq on hold, Reuters reported. Iraqi forces had captured key positions around the oil city of Kirkuk in Kurdistan on October 16, and are on a campaign to take back other areas of Iraqi Kurdistan.

“The fighting between the two sides will not produce a victory for any, it will take the country to total destruction,” the Kurdistan Regional Government said in a statement. The regional government proposed an immediate ceasefire, a suspension of the Kurdish referendum result – in which 92% of voters chose independence – and “starting an open dialogue with the federal government based on the Iraqi Constitution”.

However, an unidentified military spokesperson for the Iraqi government said, “Military operations are not connected to politics,” indicating that the army’s offensive against areas claimed by the Kurdish government would continue.