Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to “immediately” order a cease-fire in Ukraine and begin negotiations if Kyiv started withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO. Such a deal appears a nonstarter for Kyiv, which wants to join the military alliance and has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from all of its territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more territory.
Quick Read
- Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to order a cease-fire in Ukraine if Kyiv withdrew troops from Moscow-occupied regions and renounced plans to join NATO.
- Putin’s proposal, aimed at a “final resolution” rather than “freezing” the conflict, seems a nonstarter for Kyiv, which insists on joining NATO and demands Russia withdraw from all Ukrainian territory.
- There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Putin’s proposal.
- Putin outlined his conditions during a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry, stressing Russia’s readiness to negotiate without delay.
- Broader demands for peace included Ukraine’s non-nuclear status, military restrictions, and protection of Russian-speaking populations, with the lifting of Western sanctions against Russia.
- Putin called for restoring unity between Russia and Ukraine and Europe in general.
- The proposal coincided with a G7 summit in Italy and an upcoming peace summit in Switzerland, which Russia will not attend.
- The U.S. and Ukraine recently signed a 10-year security agreement hailed as a milestone in their relations.
- Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, annexed four regions in the east and south but doesn’t fully control any of them.
- Putin’s demand for Kyiv to cede the annexed regions remains unchanged, insisting on their administrative borders.
- Putin warned that rejecting his offer would leave the “political and moral responsibility for continuing the bloodshed” on Kyiv and Western capitals.
The Associated Press has the story:
Putin vows truce if Ukraine exits Russian-claimed areas, drops NATO bid. Kyiv rejects it
Newslooks- (AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to “immediately” order a cease-fire in Ukraine and begin negotiations if Kyiv started withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO.
Such a deal appears a nonstarter for Kyiv, which wants to join the military alliance and has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from all of its territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more territory.
Putin’s remarks came as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders — but not from Moscow — this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine.
They also coincided with a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Italy and after the U.S. and Ukraine this week signed a 10-year security agreement that Russian officials, including Putin, denounced as “null and void.”
Putin blasted the Switzerland conference as “just another ploy to divert everyone’s attention, reverse the cause and effect of the Ukrainian crisis (and) set the discussion on the wrong track.”
His demands came in a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry and was aimed at what he called a “final resolution” of the conflict rather than “freezing it,” and stressed the Kremlin is “ready to start negotiations without delay.”
“We will do it immediately,” Putin said in a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow.
His remarks came as leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations met in Italy and as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders — but not from Moscow — this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine. The U.S. and Ukraine this week also signed a 10-year security agreement that they hailed as a milestone in relations.
Broader demands for peace that Putin listed included Ukraine’s recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, keeping the country’s nonnuclear status, restricting its military force and protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population. All of these should be part of “fundamental international agreements,” and all Western sanctions against Russia should be lifted, Putin said.
“We’re urging to turn this tragic page of history and to begin restoring, step-by-step, the unity between Russia and Ukraine and in Europe in general,” he said.
Putin’s remarks, made to a group of somber Foreign Ministry officials and some senior lawmakers, represented a rare occasion in which he clearly laid out his conditions for ending the war in Ukraine, but it didn’t include any new demands. The Kremlin has said before that Kyiv should recognize its territorial gains and drop its bid to join NATO.
Zelenskyy, in Italy for the G7 meeting, said Putin’s proposal was not new and was in the form of an “ultimatum,” comparing it to actions by Adolf Hitler in seizing territory that led to World War II.
“What Putin demands is to give them a part of our territories, those occupied and not occupied, talking about several regions of our country,” he said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called Putin’s plan “manipulative,” “absurd” and designed to “mislead the international community, undermine diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a just peace, and split the unity of the world majority around the goals and principles of the U.N. Charter.”
Besides seeking to join NATO, Ukraine wants Russian forces out of its territory, including the Crimean Peninsula that was illegally annexed in 2014; the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity; and that Russia be held accountable for war crimes and for Moscow to pay reparations to Kyiv.
Russia launched its a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. After Ukrainian forces thwarted a Russian drive to the capital, much of the fighting has focused in the south and east – and Russia illegally annexed regions in the east and the south, although it doesn’t fully control any of them.
Putin said his proposal is aimed at a “final resolution” of the conflict in Ukraine rather than “freezing it,” and stressed that the Kremlin is “ready to start negotiations without delay.”
Broader demands for peace that the Russian leader listed included Ukraine’s non-nuclear status, restrictions on its military force and protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population in the country. All of these should become part of “fundamental international agreements,” and all Western sanctions against Russia should be lifted, Putin said.
“We’re urging to turn this tragic page of history and to begin restoring, step-by-step, restore the unity between Russia and Ukraine and in Europe in general,” he said.
Putin’s remarks represented a rare occasion in which he clearly laid out his conditions for ending the war in Ukraine, but it didn’t include any new demands. The Kremlin has said before that Kyiv should recognize its territorial gains and drop its bid to join NATO.
Russia doesn’t fully control any of the four regions it illegally annexed in 2022, but Putin insisted Friday that Kyiv should withdraw from them entirely and essentially cede them to Moscow within their administrative borders. In Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, Russia still doesn’t control the region’s namesake administrative capital with a pre-war population of about 700,000, and in the neighboring Kherson region, Moscow withdrew from Kherson’s biggest city and capital of the same name in November 2022.
Putin said that if “Kyiv and Western capitals” reject his offer, “it is their business, their political and moral responsibility for continuing the bloodshed.”
