Russia has reiterated its firm conditions for any end to the war in Ukraine, insisting that a ceasefire or broader peace negotiations will not be possible unless Kyiv withdraws its forces from the eastern Donbas region.
The position was restated on Wednesday, just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the more than four-year conflict was “heading to an end,” without providing further details.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists, including AFP, during a conference call that any halt in fighting would depend on Ukraine meeting Moscow’s demands.
“In order for there to be a ceasefire and a window for full-scale peace talks to open… President Zelensky must give the order for Ukraine’s army to cease fire and to leave the territory of the Donbas, to leave the Russian regions,” he said.
Moscow currently controls roughly one-fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula—annexed in 2014—as well as most of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (commonly referred to as Donbas), along with significant portions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south.
Russia has claimed sovereignty over all five areas following referendums held under conditions widely rejected by the international community.
Volodymyr Zelensky has consistently dismissed these demands, stating that any territorial concessions would amount to surrender.
The war, triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and is regarded as Europe’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War.
Meanwhile, US-led diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war have made limited progress in recent months, particularly since Washington shifted focus toward its confrontation with Iran.