President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia would cease fire and enter peace talks if Ukraine dropped its NATO ambitions and withdrew its forces from four Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow.
On the eve of a peace conference in Switzerland to which Russia has not been invited, Putin set out a series of conditions wholly at odds with the terms demanded by Ukraine.
“The conditions are very simple,” Putin said, listing these as the full withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire territory of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in eastern and southern Ukraine.
“As soon as they declare in Kyiv that they are ready for such a decision and begin a real withdrawal of troops from these regions, and also officially announce the abandonment of their plans to join NATO — on our side, immediately, literally at the same minute, an order will follow to cease fire and begin negotiations,” he said.
Russian president says Ukraine has to abandon interest in joining NATO, and withdraw troops from several regions.
“I repeat, we will do this immediately. Naturally, we will simultaneously guarantee the unhindered and safe withdrawal of Ukrainian units and formations.”
Russia controls nearly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory in the third year of the war. Ukraine says peace can only be based on a full withdrawal of Russian forces and the restoration of its territorial integrity.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry described Putin’s words as “manipulative statements aimed at misleading the international community.”
“It is absurd for Putin, who planned, prepared and executed, together with his accomplices, the largest armed aggression in Europe since the Second World War, to present himself as a peacemaker,” the ministry said.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukraine presidential aide, called Putin’s comments “a complete sham.”
“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,” Podolyak said on X.
U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is in Brussels, said, “[Putin] is not in any position to dictate to Ukraine what they must do to bring about peace.”
U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin responded to the Russian president’s ceasefire demands, saying Vladimir Putin is not in ‘any position’ to dictate terms to Ukraine.
Ukraine summit on tap in Switzerland
World leaders will join at the summit this weekend to explore ways of ending the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, has described the idea of a summit to which it is not invited as “futile.” China, a key consumer of Russian oil and supplier of goods, is also not attending.
WATCH l Breaking down Canada’s latest contribution to Ukraine:
Leaders of the G7 are finalizing a new deal to use frozen Russian assets to secure a $50-billion US bank loan to help Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russian gains on the battlefield.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the leaders of Germany, Italy, Britain and Japan are among those set to attend the June 15-16 meeting along with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Swiss mountaintop resort of Buergenstock.
The summit is expected to shy away from territorial issues and focus instead on matters such as food security and nuclear safety in Ukraine.
“This meeting is already a result,” Zelenskyy said in Berlin on Tuesday, while acknowledging the challenge of maintaining international support as the war, now well into its third year, grinds on.
NATO plans to step up if Trump elected
On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement. In the event of an armed attack or threat of such against Ukraine, top U.S. and Ukrainian officials will meet within 24 hours to consult on a response and determine what additional defence needs are required for Ukraine, the agreement says.
The pact also outlines plans to develop Ukraine’s own defence industry and expand its military.
Biden recently shifted his policy against allowing Ukraine to use American weapons for attacks inside Russia, permitting Kyiv to fire long-range U.S. missiles against Russian targets near the embattled Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
The future of the agreement remains unclear given the realistic possibility Donald Trump returns to the White House. Trump has expressed skepticism of Ukraine’s continued fight, saying implausibly at one point that he would end the conflict in his first day in office.
WATCH l Joly on criticism of Canada’s NATO commitment:
As G7 leaders meet in Italy to finalize a new plan to help Ukraine in its fight with Russia, Foreign Affairs Minister MĂ©lanie Joly sits down with Power & Politics host David Cochrane for a wide-ranging discussion on Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war and reaching NATO’s 2 per cent defence spending target — a target she says Canada should achieve by July.
Trump has also pushed for Europe to take on more of the burden of supporting Kyiv. On that note, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels on Friday that the alliance will assume a greater role in the co-ordination of arms supplies to Ukraine, taking over from the U.S. in a bid to safeguard the aid mechanism in the event NATO-skeptic Trump is elected.
“These efforts do not make NATO a party to the conflict but they will enhance our support to Ukraine to uphold its right to self-defence,” said Stoltenberg.
WATCH l CBC goes inside Ukrainian prison as inmates consider fighting:
On Friday, the Ukrainian military said its forces downed seven of 14 missiles and all 17 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks in the west of the country.
Russian forces targeted critical infrastructure and military objects during the raid, air force spokesperson Illia Yevlash said on national television.
Russian aerial attacks this spring dealt significant damage to Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.
