Ukraine must destroy Western weapons for peace deal: Russia
dpa
Moscow/Kiev
Russia has set Ukraine a new condition for the settlement of the war, now in its fourth year: the scrapping of all Western weapons.
'It goes without saying that all these remnants [of Western weapons] must be destroyed,' Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview with the online news website Izvestia (The News).
This should be done under international supervision, Grushko said, adding that, 'all international algorithms are known.' Russia has made several key demands for the cessation of its attacks. Most are unacceptable to Kiev and its European allies.
Moscow is claiming large parts of its neighbour state for itself and is also demanding that Ukraine does not join NATO. The new US administration under President Donald Trump, which sees itself as a mediator, already agreed to these two conditions, at least in part, and exerted corresponding pressure on Kiev.
The Ukrainian government has so far categorically rejected Moscow's simultaneous demands for a reduction in the size of the armed forces and for arms restrictions due to security concerns. The demand now being made for the destruction of weapons already received is new.
Since the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, Western countries have supported Ukraine with arms worth around €140 billion ($161 billion), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
In May, Ukraine and Russia held direct negotiations on ending the war in Istanbul for the first time since 2022. However, the positions of both sides are still far apart.
Meanwhile, several people were injured overnight in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and surrounding area in renewed Russian drone attacks, officials said on Monday.
Two people were taken to hospital and one woman was later released, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. According to Kiev's military administration, the second victim, a man born in 2004, was seriously injured. The drone strikes damaged residential buildings. There were also strikes in the area surrounding the capital.
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