Conflict in Ukraine: Vladimir Putin sets the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from four regions as a condition for peace negotiations

On Friday 14 June, Vladimir Putin declared that he would be ready to negotiate with Ukraine on condition that it renounced its membership of NATO and that Ukrainian forces withdrew from the four regions he has claimed since 2022: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporijjia. The Russian president also dismissed out of hand the peace summit planned for Switzerland this weekend, to which Moscow has not been invited.

Kiev was quick to reject these conditions. “We have to get rid of these illusions and stop taking ‘Russia’s proposals’ seriously, as they defy common sense”, reacted Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, on X.

Volodymyr Zelensky went on to describe these demands as ultimatums in an interview with Italian channel SkyTG24 on the sidelines of the G7 summit. “Hitler did the same thing, saying ‘Give me part of Czechoslovakia and we’ll leave it at that’, but these are lies”.

“As soon as Kiev (…) begins the effective withdrawal of troops and gives notice that it is abandoning its plans to join NATO, we will immediately order a ceasefire and start negotiations”, Vladimir Putin told foreign ministry officials.

These demands amount to a surrender by Ukraine, which is seeking to preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty. In September 2022, Putin proclaimed the annexation of the four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine, in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014. He specified that Ukraine must hand over all these territories to Russia, even though the Russian army only partially occupies them.

“This is not a proposal made in good faith”, reacted NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also said that Vladimir Putin was “not in a position to dictate to Ukraine what it must do to achieve peace”.