Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that Kyiv must give a clear answer to Moscow’s proposals.
High rank Russian official said today that Moscow will respond positively if Kyiv is ready to repeat them peace talksbut to do this the Ukraine he must accept the “territorial realities” of the situation, Interfax news agency reported.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said Kyiv must give a clear answer to Moscow’s proposals that Ukraine accept the status of a “non-aligned” and “nuclear-free” country in order for a peace deal to take place.
The president Volodymyr Zelensky it will also have to accept Russia’s control of Crimea and the status of the breakaway “People’s Republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk, Interfax reported, a day after Kyiv ruled out making territorial concessions.
Negotiations for a potential peace deal have stalled since the first rounds of talks between the two sides collapsed just weeks after the Russian invasion began.
“Russia’s approach remains the same. A future agreement should define the status of Ukraine as a neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear country which should recognize existing territorial realities, including the existing status of Crimea, as well as the People’s Republics of Notnetsk and Luhansk,” he said. Interfax citing Rudenko’s statement.
Rudenko also rejected responsibility for the collapse of talks in Ukraine and said the West “has forbidden Kyiv to negotiate”.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba yesterday rejected the concession of territories to Russia as part of any peace deal and declared that there are no peace talks between Moscow and Kiev.
“Ukraine’s goal in this war (…) is to liberate its territories, to restore our territorial integrity and full sovereignty over eastern and southern Ukraine,” he said during a briefing.
THE return to conversations is blocked from the intensification of bombing on both sides of the front line and from Russian bombing of cities, although the Russians insist that they are not hitting urban targets.
Today, at least 20 people, including a small child, were killed in the Russian airstrike on the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
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