US and Russian officials have met in Saudi Arabia since Speak to end the war in UkraineLeaving Kyiv to look from far away.
Although the talks have been presented as “exploratory” by both sides, it is already clear that Moscow insists on conditions which will be unacceptable for Ukraine and its allies.
Here is an overview of some of the key requests described by the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya on Monday:
Ukraine to sell more territory: Nebenzyya told the United Nations Security Council that certain parts of Ukraine, including Crimea and four other regions, were “irrevocably lost”.
He wrongly said that the so-called popular republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, “joined the Russian Federation”. It referred to referendums which were held by Russian -installed authorities in occupied areas, largely denounced as simulars by Ukraine and its Western allies.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, a conflict instructor based in the United States, Russia currently occupies around 99% of the Luhansk region, 70% of the Donetsk region and around 75% of Kherson regions and Zaporizhzhia. Nebenzya said peace negotiations should “correct” this situation, insisting that Ukraine renounces control of the parties of the four regions not under Russian occupation.
Withdrawal from Zelensky: Nebenzya also clearly indicated that Russia wanted to force the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. The Russian ambassador called Zelensky “the Ukrainian president self -proclaimed” and called his government as “the Cabal Zelensky”, saying that neither had “a role to play in the new Ukraine”.
Zelensky, then a new coming political, won the presidential election of Ukraine in 2019 in a landslide. His mandate should have ended last May, but he remains in office because Ukraine is currently under martial law after Russia launched a large -scale invasion not caused in February 2022. Martial law prohibits the holding of elections.
Ukraine “neutral”: Nebenzya also said that Ukraine should be a “demilitarized and neutral state, which was not part of blocks or alliances”. Ukraine has long insisted to join NATO in the future and that the Defence Alliance said that the door was open to any country that wishes to join, as long as it meets the admission criteria.
The EU and the United Kingdom have excluded talks: Nebenzya also said that the European Union and the United Kingdom are “absolutely unfaithful” to their word and cannot act as mediators or be part of any agreement on Ukraine. He added that the EU and the United Kingdom are “incapable” to achieve any agreement with Russia because they are blinded by “primitive Russophobia”.