MOSCOW, June 14 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Russia would end the war in Ukraine only if Kyiv agreed to drop its NATO ambitions and hand over the entirety of four provinces claimed by Moscow, demands Kyiv swiftly rejected as tantamount to surrender.
On the eve of a conference in Switzerland to which Russia has not been invited, Putin set out maximalist conditions at odds with the terms demanded by Ukraine, apparently reflecting Moscow’s growing confidence that its forces have the upper hand in the war.
He restated his demand for Ukraine’s demilitarisation, unchanged from the day he sent in his troops on Feb. 24, 2022, and said an end to Western sanctions must also be part of a peace deal.
He also repeated his call for Ukraine’s “denazification”, based on what Kyiv calls an slur against its leadership.
Ukraine said the conditions were “absurd”.
“He is offering for Ukraine to admit defeat. He is offering for Ukraine to legally give up its territories to Russia. He is offering for Ukraine to sign away its geopolitical sovereignty,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Italy’s SkyTG24 news channel that Putin’s comments amounted to an ultimatum, carefully timed to appear just before the Swiss summit.
“It is clear he (Putin) understands that there will be the peace summit. It is clear he understands the majority in the world are on Ukraine’s side, on the side of life,” he said.
“And on the eve of the summit, amid air raid sirens, the killing of people and missile attacks, he speaks as though he is issuing some sort of ultimatum.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels: “He (Putin) is not in any position to dictate to Ukraine what they must do to bring about peace.”
The timing of Putin’s speech was clearly intended to preempt the Swiss summit, billed as a “peace conference” despite Russia’s exclusion, where Zelenskiy seeks a show of international support for Kyiv’s terms to end the war.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels: “He (Putin) is not in any position to dictate to Ukraine what they must do to bring about peace.”
The timing of Putin’s speech was clearly intended to preempt the Swiss summit, billed as a “peace conference” despite Russia’s exclusion, where Zelenskiy seeks a show of international support for Kyiv’s terms to end the war.
REUTERS
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