BarcelonaThe Russian president, Vladimir Putin, requested this Friday to renew peace negotiations with Ukraine. From a press convention in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, the Russian chief has requested to take a seat down once more with Kiiv to “signal legally binding paperwork.” “To return [las negociaciones]! However allow them to return based mostly on the present scenario on the bottom. We’re keen to take action,” he said. Putin has questioned whether or not his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, must be on the negotiating desk. The Ukrainian president’s mandate ended on Could 20 and this, for the Russian president, implies that “the legitimacy of the pinnacle of state [de Ucrania] has expired”.
Based on sources near the Russian president consulted by Reuters, Putin’s concept is to “freeze the battle”, that’s, for Ukraine at hand over to Russia all of the territories which might be at the moment underneath Moscow’s management. It’s not the primary time he has made a proposal of this sort. The president provided a ceasefire with the identical situations in the US final February, based on Reuters.
The identical sources consider that Putin desires to benefit from the momentum of Russia to go away the battle behind and promote the annexation of those Ukrainian territories as a victory.
And Russia has been taking the initiative on the battlefield for months. Moscow already controls 18% of Ukrainian territory and two weeks in the past opened a brand new entrance close to the town of Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine.
One more reason why Putin made this alteration in speech, based on sources near the Kremlin, is the truth that a complete victory on the bottom is nearly inconceivable. Any new main offensive on Ukrainian territory would imply a brand new mobilization of reservists. After the primary nationwide recruitment, in September 2022, its recognition plummeted and hundreds of males fled the nation.
Nothing signifies, nonetheless, that Ukraine should agree to take a seat down with the Russian president this time. Zelensky has insisted a number of occasions that he is not going to settle for any cession of territory to Russia and, in reality, signed a decree in 2022 formally declaring that any negotiations with Putin are “inconceivable.”
Kiiv’s efforts to succeed in a peace settlement contain the summit to be held this June in Switzerland, the place leaders from world wide will research the ten-point method that Zelensky introduced in 2022. There are company from Russian allies, resembling China, However the Ukrainian president has said a number of occasions that he doesn’t consider Moscow has to attend.
Putin stated final week, throughout his go to to China, that peace couldn’t come from Switzerland as a result of then it could be an “imposed situation” and never a “severe negotiation.” “I consider that one of many goals of the convention is for the Western neighborhood, the sponsors of the Kiiv regime, to substantiate the legitimacy of the pinnacle of state,” the Russian president stated at this Friday’s press convention.
The Ukrainian Overseas Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, instructed X that if Putin now defends returning to negotiations it’s as a result of “he’s afraid of the success” of the summit in Switzerland. “Putin has no intention of ending his aggression in Ukraine. Solely the voice of a worldwide majority can power you to decide on peace over battle,” he assured.
Zelensky will journey to Madrid this Monday
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, will journey to Madrid this Monday, simply over per week after canceling an official go to to the Spanish capital to concentrate on the brand new entrance that Russia opened within the Ukrainian area of Kharkiv. Zelensky plans to fulfill with the president of the Spanish authorities, Pedro Sánchez, and signal the bilateral safety settlement with which Spain commits to proceed offering navy assist to Kiiv. It will likely be the primary bilateral go to of the president of Ukraine to Spain, though he already attended the summit of the European Political Neighborhood, in Granada, final October.
