The Kremlin on Monday confirmed that Russia's requirements for a peace settlement with Ukraine remain the same as those President Vladimir Putin set out in 2024. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow continues to insist that Kyiv withdraw its forces from the four contested regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - and publicly abandon plans to join NATO.
In a television interview over the weekend, President Putin reiterated Russia's ongoing battlefield objective of full control over those four regions. He also rejected what he described as a new Ukrainian proposal aimed at reducing hostilities in the war that has lasted more than four years.
According to Putin's account in the interview, Kyiv had put forward the idea of a mutual halt to long-range strikes and proposed that fighting be confined to the four regions. Russia regards those territories as its own, while Ukraine rejects that characterization and views the situation as an illegal seizure of land.
The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not answer a request for comment on Putin's remarks that was sent in late-night hours in Ukraine.
Peskov also said on Monday that Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko spoke about the conflict during a weekend meeting. The two leaders discussed a range of issues including the war, bilateral relations, trade cooperation and European security. The Kremlin said the talks covered what it described as attempts to provoke Belarus.
The Kremlin's restatement of the 2024 conditions leaves the publicly stated negotiating positions unchanged. Moscow's insistence on withdrawal from the four regions and on Kyiv's abandonment of NATO aspirations preserves the same preconditions that Putin articulated in 2024, while recent comments signal a continued focus on the battlefield objective of control over those territories.
Context summary
- Russia reaffirmed its 2024 demands that Ukraine pull forces back from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and renounce NATO membership plans.
- Putin said he would press on with the goal of fully controlling the four regions and dismissed what he called a Ukrainian proposal to limit hostilities.
- The Kremlin reported that Putin and Belarusian President Lukashenko discussed the war, trade cooperation and European security at a weekend meeting.