Russia offers a conditional ceasefire in Ukraine and calls it the best possible available deal for Ukraine to have peace. President Vladimir Putin promised an instant ceasefire in Ukraine and negotiations, if Ukrainian troops started departing from Moscow annexed four regions, and abandoned NATO joining plans.
The Russian President offered this conditional truce on Friday after Switzerland became ready to host world leaders excluding Moscow this weekend to map the first steps toward peace in Ukraine. Kyiv rejects the Russian offer. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more. Putin’s offer coincided with a meeting of the leaders of G7 in Italy and after the US inked a 10-year security agreement with Ukraine that the Russian President denounced as “null and void.”
He blasted the Switzerland conference as “just another trick to divert everyone’s attention and reverse the cause.” His demand came in a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry declared it a “final resolution” of the conflict rather than “freezing it,” and stressed the Kremlin is “ready to start negotiations without delay.”
Wider demands for peace in Ukraine that Putin announced include Ukraine’s recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, keeping the country’s non-nuclear status, restricting its military force, and backing the interests of the Russian-speaking population. “All of this must be a 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, unity between Russia and Ukraine and in Europe in general,” he added.
This is the whole what Mr. Putin had laid down to end his war with Ukraine. The Kremlin has said before that Kyiv should recognize its territorial gains and drop its bid to join NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Zelenskyy said Putin’s proposal was not new and was in the form of an ultimatum that could be compared with the actions of Adolf Hitler by 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. He talks about several regions of our country,” he said. “This plan is manipulative, absurd, and was designed to mislead the world. It is to undermine diplomatic efforts for peace, and splits a unity of the world around the principles of the UN Charter.”
Besides seeking to join NATO, Ukraine demanded withdrawal of Russian forces out of its territory and the Crimean Cape, upholding of the Ukraine’s territorial integrity, pay damages to Kyiv and holding Russia for war crimes. It said there was nothing new from Putin and that the Russian leader was voicing more aggression. “There is no real peace in this proposal and no desire to end the war. There is a desire not to pay for this war and to continue it in new formats,” said Podolyak- advisor to the Ukrainian president.
U. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at NATO headquarters in Brussels that Putin “illegally occupied sovereign Ukrainian territory. He is not in any position to dictate to Ukraine what they must do to bring about a peace.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg added “this is not a peace proposal. This is a proposal of more aggression, more occupation, and it demonstrates in a way that Russia’s aim is to control Ukraine.” While Putin in response to the statements said, “if Kyiv and Western capitals reject this offer, it is their business, their political and moral responsibility for continuing the bloodshed.” Going further he said that his troops never intended to storm Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, even though they approached the city. It was nothing other than an operation to force the Ukrainian regime to peace. The troops were there to push the Ukrainian side to negotiate, to try and find an acceptable solution,” the Russian President added.
A war among Russia and Ukraine began in February 2022. Much of the fight in this war was focused in the south and east, where Moscow annexed four regions, although it doesn’t fully control any of them. The Ukraine’s military has been on the back foot in recent months, with its troops outnumbered by the Kremlin’s forces and running short of ammunition and weaponry due to delays in promised Western military aid.
(By Rana Kashif)
