Kyiv likely to reject Putin’s latest offer of a ‘ceasfire deal’
Russian leader pledges end of conflict in Ukraine – but only if Zelensky withdraws troops from occupied territories and drops Nato bid
Russian president Vladimir Putin has promised to "immediately" order a ceasefire in Ukraine and begin negotiations if Kyiv starts to withdraw troops from the four occupied Ukrainian regions and renounces plans to join Nato.
Such a deal appears a nonstarter for Kyiv, which wants to join the military alliance and has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from all of its territory.
"We will do it immediately," Mr Putin said in a speech at the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow.
His remarks came as leaders of the G7 leaders met in Italy and as Switzerland prepared to hostscoresofworldleadersthis weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine.
Mr Putin said his proposal is aimed at a "final resolution" of the conflict in Ukraine rather than "freezing it", and stressed that the Kremlin is "ready to start negotiations without delay".
Broader demands for peace that the Russian leader listed included Ukraine's nonnuclear status, restrictions on its military force and protecting the interests of the Russianspeaking population in the country.
"We'reurgingtoturnthistragic page of history and to begin restoring, step-by-step, restore the unity between Russia and Ukraine and in Europe in general," Mr Putin said.
Mrputin'sremarksrepresented a rare occasion in which he clearly laid out his conditions for ending the war in Ukraine, but it did not include any new demands.
The Kremlin has said before that Kyiv should recognise its territorial gains and drop its bid to join Nato.
Russia does not fully control either of the four regions it illegally annexed in 2022, but Mr Putin said yesterday that Kyiv should withdraw from them entirely and essentially cede them to Moscow within their administrative borders.
In Zaporizhzhia in the southeast,russiastilldoesnotcontrol theregion'snamesakeadministrative capital of 700,000 people, and in the neighbouring Kherson region, Moscow withdrew from Kherson's biggest city and capital of the same name in November 2022.
Butukraine'sforeignministry calledmrputin'splan"manipulative","absurd"anddesignedto "misleadtheinternationalcommunity, undermine diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a just peace, and split the unity of the world majority around the goals and principles of the UN Charter".
Besides seeking to join Nato, Ukraine wants Russian forces out of its territory, including the Crimean Peninsula that was illegally annexed in 2014; therestorationofukraine'sterritorial integrity; and that Russia be held accountable for war crimes and for Moscow to pay reparations to Kyiv.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, said on socialmediathatthere was nothing new in Mr Putin's proposal and that the Russian leader "voiced only the 'standard aggressor's set', which has been heard many times already." "There is no novelty in this, no real peace proposals and no desire to end the war. But there isadesirenottopayforthiswar and to continue it in new formats. It's all a complete sham," Mr Podolyak wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said at Nato headquarters in Brussels that Mr Putin "has illegally occupied sovereign Ukrainian territory. He is not in any position to dictate to Ukraine what they must do to bring about a peace".
Mr Austin added that Mr Putin "started this war with no provocation. He could end it today if he chose to do that."
Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg added that "this is not a peace proposal. This is a proposal of more aggression, more occupation, and it demonstratesinawaythatthatrussia's aim is to control Ukraine".
Mr Putin said if "Kyiv and Western capitals" reject his offer, "it is their business, their political and moral responsibility for continuing the bloodshed".
The Kremlin has repeatedly aired its readiness for peace talks with Kyiv and blamed the Westforunderminingitsefforts to end the conflict.
Mr Putin went further yesterdayandclaimedhistroopsnever intended to storm Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, even though they approached the city.
"Inessence,itwasnothingotherthananoperationtoforcethe Ukrainianregimetopeace.the troops were there to push the Ukrainian side to negotiate, to try and find an acceptable solution," he said.
Moscow withdrew from Kyiv in March 2022 and described it agoodwillgestureaspeacetalks between the two began, but the pullback took place amid fierce Ukrainian resistance that significantlysloweddownrussia's battlefield advances.
Mr Putin also claimed that in that same month, he told a foreign official he was not ruling out withdrawing forces from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and ceding occupied parts of them back to Ukraine, as long as Kyiv allowed Russia to have a "strong land connection" to Crimea.
Hesaidtheofficialplannedon bringing that proposal to Kyiv – which Moscow "welcomed," as itgenerallywelcomed"attempts to find a peaceful resolution of the conflict".
Butthekremlinthenannexed both regions, along with the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, citing the results of sham "referendums" it staged there. Mr Putin mentioned those and said: "The matter is closed forever and is no longer up for discussion."
Also yesterday, Russia returned the bodies of 254 Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine, Kyiv said. Once identified, the bodies will be returned to relatives, according to Ukraine's Co-ordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.