Russia accuses Ukraine of not contributing to a good negotiating environment
Russia is willing to end the war in one day if Ukraine meets certain demands, but what the Kremlin asks for is unlikely to be well received in Kiev.
According to the spokesman for the Russian presidency, the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the regions that Russia sees as its own would precipitate the end of the war.
“On [Volodymyr] Zekensky and end the war at the end of the year… The war could end at the end of the day”, said Dmitry Peskov, and then said that this will happen, yes, but only if Ukraine gives up Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, the regions that Russia annexed in a referendum not recognized internationally.
Of those four regions, only Lugansk is clearly under Russian rule, with only a few small parcels of territory remaining for total conquest. More difficult is the situation in Donetsk, the center of everything practically since the beginning of the war and the current scene of a stalemate along the entire front line.
The other two cases, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, are different: firstly because Russia has only claimed these regions since the 2022 referendum, while Donetsk and Luhansk have been declared objectives since 2014; secondly because those regions are practically divided in half, with each side having an important share.
“We have already said it several times and the president spoke about this when he spoke to those responsible at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To achieve this, Zelensky needs to order the withdrawal of his Armed Forces from the territory of the Russian regions”, reiterated Dmitry Peskov, who accused Ukraine of dragging out the process and refusing genuine and serious peace negotiations.
In any case, and according to the Kremlin, even if Ukraine does not abdicate, Russia will achieve its objectives for this military operation, even if the path of peace is preferable.
“We repeat: we remain open to peace negotiations”, concluded Dmitry Peskov, who did not fail to note that Russia also demands Ukraine’s resignation from NATO, in the logic that Moscow is one of the so-called root causes.
