Putin Offers Cease-Fire if Ukraine Withdraws from Annexed Regions and Drops NATO Bid — Kyiv Rejects Proposal

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that he would "immediately" order a cease-fire and initiate negotiations if Ukraine began withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced its plans to join NATO. This proposal, however, is deemed a nonstarter by Kyiv, which has steadfastly insisted on joining the military alliance and demanded the full withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dismissed Putin's proposal as a repetition of past demands. "There is no novelty in this, no real peace proposals and no desire to end the war. But there is a desire not to pay for this war and to continue it in new formats. It’s all a complete sham," Podolyak stated on social media.

Putin's proposal coincides with the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy, where world leaders, excluding Russia, are discussing steps toward peace in Ukraine. This week, the U.S. and Ukraine signed a 10-year security agreement, a move denounced by Russian officials, including Putin, as "null and void."

In his speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Putin criticized the Switzerland peace summit as a distraction, claiming it aimed to misrepresent the Ukrainian crisis and mislead the discussion. He reiterated his stance that the Kremlin is prepared to start negotiations immediately for a "final resolution" of the conflict, not merely a temporary ceasefire.

The Russian President outlined broader demands for peace, including Ukraine's recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, maintaining its non-nuclear status, limiting its military capabilities, and protecting the rights of the Russian-speaking population. Additionally, he called for lifting all Western sanctions against Russia.

"We’re urging to turn this tragic page of history and to begin restoring unity between Russia and Ukraine and in Europe in general," Putin said, addressing Foreign Ministry employees.

Putin's conditions for ending the war include Ukraine's complete withdrawal from the annexed regions and ceding them to Moscow. Despite these demands, Russia does not fully control any of these regions. In Zaporizhzhia, the administrative capital remains under Ukrainian control, and in Kherson, Moscow withdrew from the city in November 2022.

Putin asserted that if Kyiv and Western capitals reject his offer, they bear the political and moral responsibility for continuing the bloodshed. Throughout the conflict, the Kremlin has claimed a willingness for peace talks, blaming the West for undermining efforts to end the war.

In a contentious assertion, Putin claimed that Russian forces never intended to storm Kyiv. He described the initial advance on the Ukrainian capital as an effort to force peace negotiations, not a capture attempt. Despite this, Russian troops withdrew from Kyiv in March 2022 amid fierce Ukrainian resistance, which Putin now describes as a "goodwill gesture" to facilitate peace talks.

He also suggested that in March 2022, he was open to withdrawing forces from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, provided Ukraine allowed a strong land connection to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. However, the Kremlin subsequently annexed these regions following sham referendums, a move Putin declared as "closed forever and no longer up for discussion."

As the war continues, Putin's latest offer is unlikely to sway Kyiv, which remains resolute in its territorial claims and aspirations to join NATO, highlighting the deep and ongoing rift between the two nations.