A senior Russian official said today that Moscow will respond positively if Kyiv is ready to resume peace talks, but to do so Ukraine must accept the “territorial realities” of the situation, Interfax news agency reported.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said Kyiv must give a clear answer to Moscow’s proposals that Ukraine accept the status of a “non-aligned” country and a “nuclear-free” country in order for a peace deal to be reached.
President Volodymyr Zelensky will also have to accept Russia’s control of Crimea and the status of the breakaway “People’s Republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk, Interfax reported, a day after Kyiv ruled out making territorial concessions.
Negotiations for a potential peace deal have stalled since the first rounds of talks between the two sides collapsed just weeks after the Russian invasion began.
“Russia’s approach remains the same. A future agreement should define the status of Ukraine as a neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear country which should recognize existing territorial realities, including the existing status of Crimea, as well as of the People’s Republics of Notnetsk and Luhansk,” Interfax reported citing Rudenko’s statement.
Rudenko also rejected responsibility for the collapse of talks in Ukraine and said the West “has forbidden Kyiv to negotiate”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimytro Kuleba yesterday ruled out ceding territory to Russia as part of any peace deal and said there are no peace talks between Moscow and Kiev.
“Ukraine’s goal in this war (…) is to liberate its territories, to restore our territorial integrity and full sovereignty over eastern and southern Ukraine,” he said during a briefing.
A return to the talks has been hampered by intensifying shelling on both sides of the front line and by Russian shelling of cities, although the Russians insist they are not hitting urban targets.
Today, at least 20 people, including a small child, were killed in the Russian airstrike on the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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