On Monday, the 2nd of June, Russia announced to Ukraine during peace talks that it would agree to end the war only if Kyiv renounced large territories and agreed to limit the size of its army, according to a memorandum published by Russian media, reports Reuters.
These conditions, which were first outlined in talks in Istanbul, show Moscow’s unwillingness to compromise on its long-term war aims, despite US President Donald Trump’s call to end the “bloodshed” in Ukraine.
The delegations met for less than an hour on Monday. They agreed to exchange more prisoners of war, mainly the youngest and most seriously wounded, and to return the remains of 12 000 fallen soldiers.
Ukraine also submitted a list of several hundred illegally deported children. The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said that Moscow would examine the list provided by Kyiv of children “who have lost contact with their parents” and would consider each case individually.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described it as an excellent meeting and expressed hope that he would be able to organise a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey, together with Trump.
Both Trump and Zelenskyy have expressed their readiness for a trilateral meeting.
However, no agreement was reached on the proposed ceasefire called for by Ukraine, its European allies and Washington. Moscow said it wanted a long-term solution, not a truce.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said that Ukraine would review Russia’s peace proposal but would not comment on it for the time being. He said Ukraine wanted further talks by the end of June but believed that only a direct meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin could truly resolve the main issues.
Russia’s demands
In a memorandum published by the Interfax news agency, Russia included its long-standing demands for international recognition of Crimea and the recognition of four other regions as part of Russia.
Russia reiterated its demands that Ukraine remain neutral (not join NATO), make Russian an official language, protect Russian-speaking residents and ban the glorification of Nazism. Ukraine claims that the accusations of Nazism are absurd and denies that Russian speakers are being mistreated.
Russia also offered two ceasefire options, but both are unlikely to be acceptable to Ukraine.
The first option, according to the text, requires Ukraine to withdraw its army from four regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, some of which are not under full Russian control.
The second option would force Ukraine to stop deploying its troops, put an end to foreign military assistance, lift martial law and hold elections within 100 days.
Medinsky said that Moscow had also proposed a specific two- to three-day ceasefire in certain areas of the front line” to allow for the collection of the remains of fallen soldiers.
According to Ukraine’s proposed peace plan, Kyiv wants three main things: no restrictions on its military forces after the war, no recognition of any occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian territory, and compensation from Russia.
Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in an atmosphere fraught with conflict. The second round of talks took place a day after Ukraine destroyed dozens of Russian strategic bombers in a drone operation called Spider’s Web.
“At least after Operation Spider’s Web, the Russian side’s statements were less pseudo-historical and less fantasy-filled,” said a senior Ukrainian official who wished to remain anonymous, discussing the events with Politico.
“Maybe we need a couple more measures [like Operation Spider’s Web], and then they will start behaving like human beings,” Zelenskyy told reporters.