Russia's President, Putin presents expanded territorial claims toward Ukraine, which Kyiv firmly denies as a baseless farce.
On a Friday prior to a peace summit in Switzerland that Russia wasn't invited to, Putin outlined his conditions for ending the conflict in Ukraine, a nation Russia invaded nearly two and a half years ago, in more explicit detail.
Not only is Putin demanding the withdrawal of Russian-occupied zones in eastern and southern Ukraine, but he also insists that Ukraine disarms and that Western nations lift their sanctions against Russia, which while harmful, haven't brought Russia's economy to its knees.
Although Putin's conditions are more demanding than before, they indicate Russia's failure to achieve its initial war objectives, which involved capturing Kyiv within days and the rest of Ukraine within weeks. Today, Russia holds about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which it annexed a decade ago.
Some Ukrainian and Western officials have voiced concerns that Putin aims for nothing less than Ukraine's complete defeat, with any truce or negotiations being just a disguise for Russian troops to regroup and launch a stronger offensive later.
However, Putin, speaking to the foreign ministry, declared that Russia's terms for negotiations are uncomplicated. The primary demand is for Ukraine to fully withdraw its military from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions. Although Moscow only partially controls these areas, it claims they were part of Russian territory in 2022.
Putin emphasized that Ukraine must give up not just the zone controlled by the Russian forces within these regions, but "the entire territory of these regions."
In case Ukraine announces its readiness for such a decision and starts the real withdrawal of troops from these regions, and also officially renounces plans to join NATO, Putin said Russia would immediately order a ceasefire and initiate negotiations.
Putin pledged to ensure the safe and unrestricted withdrawal of Ukrainian units and formations. He admitted that Russia has a role in maintaining global stability and reiterated that his terms for ending the war should be codified in international contracts.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed skepticism about Putin's "ultimatum," asserting that it doesn't significantly differ from previous offers made before. During a speech at the Group of Seven summit in Italy, Zelensky compared Putin's tactics to those used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to conquer parts of Europe in the 1930s and 40s.
"He talks about parts of our country, and he says he will not stop," Zelensky told CNN affiliate Sky Tg24. "It's the same thing Hitler did, when he said 'give me a part of Czechoslovakia and that’s the end of it.' You can’t trust it,” Zelensky said, likening Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland to Western countries' failed appeasement policy.
"That is why we must not trust these messages, because Putin follows the same course," Zelensky cautioned. Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak urged Kyiv's allies to abandon unrealistic expectations and to stop taking Russia's proposals seriously, considering them "offensive to common sense" and void of genuine peace proposals. "There is no novelty in this, no real peace proposals, and no desire to end the war. But there is a desire not to pay for this war and to continue it in new formats. It's all a complete sham," Podolyak said.
Putin's speech was delivered on the eve of the Swiss peace conference, where nearly 100 countries and organizations will participate. Putin dismissed the conference as "just another attempt to divert everyone's attention."
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Despite Putin's aggressive territorial claims toward Ukraine, many European nations have strongly condemned Russia's actions and expressed their support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has also sparked concerns and discussions in various international forums, with prominent voices in Europe advocating for a unified stance against Russian aggression and calling for the restoration of peace in the world.
