By Milcah Tanimu

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from territories annexed by Russia is a prerequisite for any resolution to the ongoing conflict. Speaking at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Putin emphasized that Russia would cease fire and enter negotiations immediately if Ukraine also renounced its NATO membership.

This statement comes ahead of the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland and the G7 summit in Italy. Putin reiterated that the affiliation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson to Russia is non-negotiable. He insisted that Ukraine must withdraw its forces from these regions to meet Russia’s minimum demands, which he claims are necessary to resolve the conflict rather than merely freezing it.

Putin also repeated his initial demands from February 2022 when he ordered the invasion: the creation of a neutral, non-aligned, and nuclear-free Ukraine. He further called for the country to be disarmed and “denazified,” a term interpreted in the West as installing a Russia-approved leadership in Kyiv.

Currently, Russia occupies around 20% of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014.