President Putin sets conditions for ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Moscow's long-standing position that an unconditional ceasefire with Ukraine is impossible.
According to RT, a Russian channel, on the evening of November 27th, local time, President Vladimir Putin stated that Kyiv must first withdraw its troops from the parts of Russian territory that it claims as its own.
According to the Russian leader, a ceasefire can only be declared if Ukraine withdraws its troops from areas of Russian territory that Kyiv still considers its own.
According to RT, President Putin addressed this issue at a press conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on November 27th, when he arrived in the Kyrgyz capital to attend a conference of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a regional alliance of several post-Soviet countries.
President Putin reiterated Moscow's long-standing position that an unconditional ceasefire with Ukraine is impossible.
Putin said: “We are still receiving calls to end the fighting here and there. Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the territories they are occupying, and then the fighting will end. If they do not withdraw, we will achieve that by military means.”
According to RT, in his statement, Putin did not specify which territories he was referring to.
Moscow has ruled out the possibility of freezing the conflict and entering into an unconditional ceasefire, arguing that this would only give Ukraine and the Western countries supporting Kyiv more time to replenish and equip their heavily depleted armies. At the same time, the Russian Federation has repeatedly stated its readiness to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means.
President Putin first outlined Moscow's vision for a ceasefire mechanism last summer, asserting that the Russian Federation would immediately end hostilities if Kyiv withdrew its troops from all former Ukrainian territories in Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. All four regions joined the Russian Federation after referendums in late 2022 with overwhelming support.
Earlier this year, the Russian Federation announced that it had liberated the entire Lugansk region and was now actively advancing on Donetsk and, more recently, on Zaporizhzhia and the neighboring Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine.
Regarding the territorial issue, the French news agency AFP added that the issue of occupied territories – which Kyiv has declared it will never give up – is one of the biggest obstacles to the peace process.
Another key issue in the negotiations is Western security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv argues are necessary to prevent Moscow's future re-invasion.
According to Washington's original plan – drafted without consultation with Ukraine's European allies – Kyiv would have to withdraw from the Donetsk region in the east and the Donetsk, Crimea, and Lugansk regions, which have also been annexed by the Russian Federation.
The US adjusted its plans over the weekend following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but has not yet released an update.
President Putin, who has seen the new plan, said that the proposal could be a starting point for negotiations.
Referring to the new draft – which is said to have been shortened to around 20 points – he said: “Overall, we agree that it can lay the groundwork for future agreements.”
President Putin said that President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel to Moscow next week to discuss the revised document. Meanwhile, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is expected to visit Kyiv later this week.
