(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday set a de facto capitulation of Ukraine as a condition for talks, his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky immediately rejecting a “Hitler”-style “ultimatum”, on the eve of a summit in Switzerland devoted to the means of achieving peace and from which Russia is excluded.
Ukraine, the United States and NATO immediately rejected these conditions from the master of the Kremlin.
“These messages are ultimatum messages […] Hitler did the same thing, when he said “Give me part of Czechoslovakia and we’ll leave it at that”, but no, these are lies”, commented Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with Italian news channel SkyTG24.
The Russian president, whose army has for several months regained the initiative on the front against Ukrainian forces lacking men and ammunition, has demanded that Kyiv renounce joining NATO and withdraw from the Donetsk regions , Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia which Russia already partially occupies and claims to annex in addition to Crimea.
“As soon as Kyiv […] begins the effective withdrawal of troops and notifies the abandonment of its plan to join NATO, we will immediately, this very minute, give the order to cease fire and begin negotiations,” Mr. Putin said to executives of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Fulfilling these conditions would constitute a de facto surrender of Ukraine, the objective of which is to restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty within internationally recognized borders.
Although the Russian army has the initiative on the front, it has suffered considerable losses there for two years and is unable to gain a decisive advantage.
In September 2022, the Kremlin proclaimed the annexation of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, in addition to Crimea in 2014.
Vladimir Putin insisted on Friday that Ukraine must hand over all of these territories to Russia, even though Moscow only partially occupies them and the fighting is still raging there.
The Russian president also denigrated the peace summit, from which Russia was excluded, planned in Switzerland for June 15 and 16 at the initiative of Ukraine. Kyiv hopes that the approximately 90 delegations present, despite the absence of China in particular, will reach a consensus to increase pressure on the Kremlin.
Mr. Putin denounced a “stratagem to divert everyone’s attention” from the real responsibilities in the conflict, namely, in his reading, those of Ukraine and the West.
Mykhaïlo Podoliak, advisor to the Ukrainian presidency, insisted that Russian demands “clash with common sense” and constitute “an offense against international law”.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denounced “manipulative statements”, and considered that Vladimir Putin had made these remarks on the eve of the summit in Switzerland because “Russia is afraid of real peace”.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, whose country is Kyiv’s main military and financial backer, said Putin was “not in a position to dictate to Ukraine what it must do to achieve the peace “.
Finally, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg considered that the Russian leader was not acting in “good faith”.
The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov went there with his pique, saying that those who “have ears will hear [Putin] and those who have a brain will understand him”.
On Friday, he said one goal was to conquer Mariupol, a port city that suffered a horrific siege in 2022, and another was to force Ukraine to grant him a land bridge across southern Ukraine to linking Russia to annexed Crimea.
“But I am not sure that these organs of the human body function properly” in the West, Sergei Lavrov said on Russian television.
Vladimir Putin also denounced the G7’s decision on Thursday to guarantee a $50 billion loan to Ukraine with future interest on Russian assets frozen since the start of the Russian offensive
“Even if we embellish things, theft is still theft and it will not go unpunished,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the pure and simple confiscation of the 300 billion euros in assets of the Russian central bank frozen by the West for two years, which they refuse for legal reasons.
On the ground, Ukrainian forces continue to resist multiple assaults, particularly in the east of the country, where Moscow has been gaining ground since the start of the year.
“Almost daily, we repel two, three attacks,” Maxime, commander of a company of tankers in the 59th brigade fighting in the Pokrovsk zone, told AFP this week.
“There was a marked increase in the number of enemy soldiers and they brought armored vehicles as well as long-range artillery,” added the 38-year-old soldier.
Finally, Ukraine continues to be forced to ration electricity, its energy infrastructure having been ravaged by Russian strikes. On Friday, outages are expected from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. across the country.