SWITZERLAND: Peace conference on the Ukraine war? "Putin's intention with his statements is clear"

SWITZERLAND: Peace conference on the Ukraine war? "Putin's intention with his statements is clear"
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered a ceasefire in return for a Ukrainian withdrawal from the four territories annexed by Russia. In addition, Ukraine must abandon its plans to join NATO, Putin said on Friday in a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow. Negotiations with Kiev could then begin. "We would do that immediately," the president assured.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podoliak, said on social media that Putin's proposal contains nothing new. There are no real peace proposals and no desire to end the war. "But there is a desire not to pay for this war and to continue it in new forms. This is all a complete deception," Podoliak wrote on the X platform. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called Putin's plan manipulative and absurd. It is aimed at misleading the international community and undermining diplomatic efforts for a just peace.
The Ukrainian government is demanding the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory and wants to join NATO. It is also demanding the return of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and reparations from Moscow.
Other demands listed by the Russian president included a non-nuclear status for Ukraine, restrictions on its military power and the protection of the interests of the country's Russian-speaking population. All of this should become part of fundamental international agreements, Putin said. All Western sanctions against Russia must be lifted.
"We urge to turn this tragic page of history and to restore, step by step, unity between Russia and Ukraine and Europe in general," Putin said. If Kiev and the Western capitals reject his offer, they will be politically and morally responsible for the continuation of the bloodshed.
Since the war began, the Kremlin has repeatedly expressed its willingness to hold peace talks and accused the West of undermining its efforts to end the conflict. Putin went further on Friday, claiming his troops never intended to storm the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, even as they approached the city. "Basically, it was nothing more than an operation to force the Ukrainian regime to make peace," he said.
Russia does not have full control over any of the four regions it illegally annexed in 2022. Nevertheless, Putin insisted on Friday that all Ukrainian troops be withdrawn from those regions.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at NATO headquarters in Brussels that Putin had illegally occupied sovereign Ukrainian territory. "He is not in a position to tell Ukraine what to do to create peace." Putin could end the war immediately if he wanted to.
A peace conference is taking place in Switzerland, attended by Ukraine and numerous states, but not by Russia, which was not invited. Putin criticized the conference as another trick to divert international attention, reverse the cause and effect of the Ukraine crisis and steer the discussion in the wrong direction.
The conference, which is based on elements of a peace plan presented by Zelensky in late 2022, is unlikely to produce any major results. It is seen as a largely symbolic attempt by Kyiv to mobilize the international community and demonstrate strength against its better-armed and numerically superior opponent.
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