3 days ago
Russia publishes ceasefire demands
Vladimir Putin has laid out his demands for both a ceasefire and ending the war in Ukraine.
Russian negotiators tabled a long memorandum in a second round of direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul on Monday.
The document's first section contained Moscow's 'basic parameters of a final settlement'.
It stipulates that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from four eastern regions that Russia only partially occupies, and that international recognition of Russian sovereignty over them and Crimea must be granted.
Kyiv must also commit to curbs on the size of its military, as well as to permanent neutrality and to having no foreign troops deployed on its territory.
Diplomatic and economic ties between the two nations must be reinstated, which would include the resumption of Russian natural gas transit through Ukraine.
Other demands included a ban on 'glorification or promotion of Nazism and neo-Nazism' and for the Russian language to be given official status.
The second section listed the Kremlin's conditions for agreeing to a 30-day ceasefire, and appeared to give Kyiv two choices.
These were that Ukraine should withdraw its troops from four mainland regions claimed by Russia, or agree to a package of demands that included cancelling martial law and holding elections.
Among the other requirements was a total halt on all foreign military aid and for Ukraine to begin demobilising.
The US and Turkey-brokered negotiations at the Ciragan Palace on the banks of the Bosphorus appeared to bring the sides no closer to a truce.
Ukraine and Russia, however, agreed to an exchange of 6,000 bodies of fallen soldiers, as well as an 'all-for-all' swap of seriously wounded and injured prisoners of war and captured servicemen aged under 25.
The Russians offered a series of smaller, localised truces across the front lines to allow for the collection of corpses.
This, however, appeared to be rejected by Ukraine, as a senior military figure told The Telegraph that Russia had previously used similar pauses to prepare for fresh assaults.
Both sides could not bridge the divides on a 30-day ceasefire being pushed by Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, and Donald Trump.
Despite the lack of progress, the US president on Monday said he was open to holding talks with his Ukrainian counterpart and Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader.
Ukrainian officials had been waiting weeks for the Russian peace proposals to be published, but these documents were only made available as talks started in Istanbul.
Read side-by-side, the two memorandums reveal a mountainous wedge between their opposing positions.
Russia's demands appeared almost identical to the set of proposals put forward in the early months of the full-scale invasion, which were ultimately rejected by Mr Zelensky as a capitulation.
The Russian terms of surrender for Ukraine were published by Russian state media hours after the talks were wrapped up in Turkey.
Kyiv's proposed route to a ceasefire, and ultimately a fuller peace deal, including security guarantees to prevent another Russian invasion, no international recognition of Moscow's occupation of Ukrainian territories and no restriction on Kyiv's armed forces.
A Ukrainian official familiar with the talks described them as 'unproductive', and branded Moscow demands as unacceptable.
The two delegations entered a large conference at the Ciragan Palace without exchanging handshakes or pleasantries.
The Russians, led by Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, appeared stony faced as they positioned themselves around the U-shaped table, after Ukraine mounted an audacious drone attack on Moscow's fleet of strategic bomber warplanes.
At one moment in the hour-long talks, Mr Medinsky accused the Ukrainians of 'putting on a show' after they handed over a list of hundreds of Ukrainian children they wanted returned from Russia.
'Do not put on a show for European tender-hearted aunties who do not have children themselves,' he said, according to a quote shared with The Telegraph by a member of the negotiating team.
A Ukrainian source familiar with the talks told The Telegraph that Russia made a counter-proposal to return just 10 children.
'Ukraine brought forward a list with more than 300 children requesting their return,' the official said.
'Should Russia have agreed to this request and returned those children, that would provide Ukraine with more confidence that Russia is interested in the humanitarian component of peace negotiations.'
