President Vladimir V. Putin said Friday that Russia would be ready to order a ceasefire in Ukraine and begin negotiations with its government if kyiv withdraws its troops from the country. four regions claimed by Moscow and dropped his aspirations to join NATO.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry quickly denounced Mr. Putin’s statement, saying its aim was “to mislead the international community, undermine diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a just peace and divide the unity of the world on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
Mr. Putin’s new announcement states that Ukraine is effectively ceding large swaths of its territory to Moscow, including the capitals of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. They represent the most concrete set of territorial conditions proposed by Mr. Putin to end the war to date.
So far, Mr. Putin has said that any negotiations must take into account “today’s realities”, a stance that some analysts have interpreted as an offer of a ceasefire on the current battle lines.
kyiv said Russia must withdraw its troops from all of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory.
Mr. Putin made the remarks a day before a peace conference in Zurich hosted by Ukraine to persuade countries to adhere to its plans for war and eventual peace. Russia was not invited to the summit and Mr. Putin’s announcement appeared intended to preempt the gathering.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Mr Putin’s timing suggested he was trying to undermine Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts in Switzerland which begin on Saturday, and showed he was “afraid of real peace”.
“Ukraine never wanted this war, but wants it to end more than anyone,” the ministry said.
With this announcement, Mr. Putin seems to send a message to Ukraine, to the West, but also to the non-aligned states of Asia, Africa and Latin America, which we now call the Global South. Russia and the West are competing for sympathies as calls grow that neither side can achieve complete victory in Ukraine.
Speaking at a meeting with his top diplomats in Moscow, Mr Putin described Russia’s demands as “very simple”. He said Ukraine must withdraw its troops from all of its Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, which it officially claimed as part of Russia in September 2022, even though Russia does not control the entire territory.
He also said Ukraine should abandon plans to join NATO and the West should lift all sanctions on Russia.
Under these conditions, he said, Russia would “immediately issue a ceasefire order and begin negotiations.”
Mr. Putin said that with its offer, Russia was not talking about “freezing the conflict, but about its final resolution.”
“Today we are making another concrete and real peace proposal,” the Russian leader said. “Our principled position is that Ukraine’s status must be neutral, non-aligned and free of nuclear weapons,” he said.
Speaking about the upcoming peace conference in Switzerland, Putin said that without Russia “it would be impossible to achieve a peaceful solution on Ukraine and, in general, on global European security.” .
Anton Troianovsky And Maria Varenikova reports contributed.
