Ukraine does not agree to start possible peace talks with the current Russian leadership, as the Kremlin does not hear any arguments. At the same time, new details of the past negotiations, which took place in April 2022, have now emerged.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The WSJ analyzed the same draft peace agreement that was offered to the Ukrainian delegation back in April 2022.
It is noted that this draft peace agreement had the following points:
- Ukraine can join the EU but should not join NATO;
- There should be no foreign weapons in Ukraine, "including missile weapons of any type, Armed Forces and formations."
- The temporarily occupied Crimea should remain under Russian control and be considered neutral;
- There should be a reduction in the ranks of the Armed Forces, the number of troops should be reduced to a certain level.
In particular, with regard to the last point, Russia intended to reduce the number of military personnel in the Armed Forces to 85,000, and set limits on 342 tanks and 519 artillery pieces. Russia also intended to limit the range of Ukrainian missiles to 40 kilometers. Instead, the document analyzed by the WSJ states that Ukrainian negotiators wanted 250,000 troops, 800 tanks, and 1,900 artillery pieces.
The Russian side also insisted that the Russian language must be recognized at the state level in the same way as the Ukrainian language. For objective reasons, the Ukrainian delegation did not agree to such conditions.
It is also worth mentioning that back in December 2023, The New York Times reported on Putin's "signals" regarding the freezing of the war:
"...at least since September, Putin has signaled through mediators that he is open to a cease-fire that would freeze the fighting on current lines, which is a far from his ambitions to dominate Ukraine," The New York Times wrote, citing two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin, as well as American and international officials who have received messages from Putin's envoys.
Earlier "Aportrophe" reported that Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly before the presidential election in Russia and made new threats to the West.