OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Russia sets extreme conditions for peace, here are the points of the Russian memorandum

2025-06-03 09:07:44Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Russia sets extreme conditions for peace, here are the points of the Russian
Head of the Russian delegation and presidential advisor, Medinsky after the meeting at Ciragan Palace

Russia has made its demands clear at peace talks with Ukraine held in Istanbul on Monday: an end to the war will come only if Kiev gives up large swaths of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army, according to a memorandum reported by Russian state media.

These conditions highlight Moscow's refusal to compromise on the long-term goals of the war, despite calls from former US President Donald Trump to end the "bloodshed" in Ukraine.

The delegations met for an hour for the second round of negotiations starting in March 2022. They agreed to exchange more prisoners of war - focusing on the youngest and most seriously wounded - and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described it as an excellent meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a meeting in Turkey with Trump.

But there was no progress on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and Washington have urged Russia to accept.

Ukraine has repeatedly rejected these conditions, calling them pure capitulation. On the other hand, Moscow insists that it seeks a long-term solution to the conflict, not a temporary pause, while Kiev accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of having no interest in peace.

Trump has warned that the United States is prepared to withdraw from mediation efforts if there is no progress towards an agreement.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the Kiev delegation, confirmed that Ukraine had received the Russian document and would review it, but had no immediate comment. He added that Ukraine had proposed holding a new round of talks by the end of June, but believes that only a meeting between Presidents Zelensky and Putin could resolve the main issues.

President Zelensky stated that Ukraine has presented Russia with a list of 400 abducted children who are on Russian territory, but the Russian side has expressed its readiness to work on the return of only 10 of them. Russia claims that the children were evacuated from war zones to protect them.

Russia's demands

According to the memorandum published by the Interfax news agency, a peace agreement would require international recognition of Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, as well as recognition of four other Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims as part of its territory. Ukraine would be forced to withdraw its forces from all of these areas.

The memorandum reiterates Russia's demands that Ukraine be a neutral country, without NATO membership, protect the rights of Russian speakers, declare Russian an official language, and legally prohibit any form of "glorification of Nazism." Ukraine considers this accusation absurd and denies any discrimination against Russian-speakers.

Russia has also set out the conditions for a possible ceasefire on the path to peace, presenting two options – both unacceptable to Kiev.

The first option requires Ukraine to completely withdraw its forces from the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Of these, Russia fully controls only Luhansk, while in the others about 70% of the territory.

The second option would require Ukraine to halt military reorganizations, accept a ban on foreign military assistance, including satellite communications and intelligence. It would also be required to lift martial law and hold presidential and parliamentary elections within 100 days.

The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, also said that Moscow has proposed a "specific ceasefire of two to three days in some sectors of the front," to enable the collection of the bodies of soldiers killed in battle.

According to a proposed roadmap drawn up by Ukraine, Reuters writes that Kiev wants no limits on its military strength after any peace deal, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow's forces, and no reparations from Moscow.

Ukraine's attack on Russian bomber fleet

The conflict has entered a more heated phase. In May, Russia launched its largest drone strikes since the start of the war, marking rapid advances on the front lines — the fastest in six months.

On Sunday, Ukraine announced it had launched 117 drones in an operation codenamed "Spider Web," aimed at striking Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers at air bases in Siberia and the far north.

Satellite images suggest the attacks caused significant damage, although the sides gave different accounts of their extent. Western military analysts described the attacks, carried out thousands of kilometers from the front line, as among Ukraine's most audacious to date.

Russia's fleet of strategic bombers is part of the nuclear "triad," along with land-based and submarine-launched missiles, which make up the world's largest nuclear arsenal. Faced with Putin's repeated warnings about Russia's nuclear power, the US and its allies have been careful throughout the war to avoid an escalation that could lead to World War III.

A current US official confirmed that Trump and the White House were not notified in advance of the attack. Another former official said that Ukraine does not usually communicate such plans to Washington in advance, for operational security reasons. The British government was also not informed in advance.

President Zelensky said the operation, which used drones hidden in wooden huts, had helped restore allies' confidence in Ukraine's ability to continue the war.

“Ukraine says it will not surrender and will not accept any ultimatum,” he said in an online news conference. “But we do not want to fight. We do not want to show our strength – we show it because the enemy will not stop.”/Reuters


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×