Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday set a de facto surrender of Ukraine as a condition for talks. His Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky immediately rejected a “Hitler”-style “ultimatum”, on the eve of the Bürgenstock summit (NW).
Ukraine, the United States and NATO immediately rejected these conditions from the master of the Kremlin.
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 , Lugansk, 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 start negotiations,” Mr. Putin said to executives of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Surrender
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.
The Kremlin proclaimed in September 2022 the annexation of four regions in the East and South of Ukraine, in addition to that of Crimea in 2014.
“Stratagem”
Vladimir Putin insisted on Friday that Ukraine must hand over all of these territories to Russia, even though Moscow only partially occupies them and fighting is still raging there.
In the evening, he also stressed on Russian television that 700,000 Russian soldiers were now participating in the operation in Ukraine, almost 100,000 more than he claimed in December.
The Russian president also described the peace summit planned in Switzerland on June 15 and 16 as a “stratagem to divert attention” from the real responsibilities in the conflict – according to him those of Ukraine and the West. 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.
“These messages are ultimatum messages (…) Hitler did the same thing, when he said ‘Give me part of Czechoslovakia and we’ll leave it there’, but no, these are lies”, commented for his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with the Italian news channel SkyTG24 on the sidelines of a G7 summit.
“Nazism is here, and it now has the face of Putin,” he added. His advisor Mykhaïlo Podoliak insisted that the Russian demands constituted “an offense to international law” as well as to “common sense”.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denounced “manipulative statements”, and estimated 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, ruled that Mr. Putin “illegally occupied Ukraine’s sovereign territory (and was) not in a position to dictate to Ukraine what it must do to achieve peace.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, for his part, considered that the Russian leader was not acting in “good faith”.
In Italy, the members of the G7 (United States, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan) promised Friday to support Ukraine “as much as necessary”, according to a draft joint declaration including AFP has taken note.
“Theft” of Russian assets
Vladimir Putin also denounced the decision of the G7 on Thursday to guarantee a loan of 50 billion dollars to Ukraine with future interests 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 outright confiscation of the 300 billion euros in assets of the Russian central bank frozen by the West for two years, something they are refusing 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 or 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 clear 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 planned from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. across the country.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / afp
