The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin on Tuesday laid out his conditions for ending the ongoing war with Ukraine which has continued to draw a lot of reactions.
Africa Today News, New York reports that this was coming at a time when Russian forces have shelled Ukraine’s second city and Western nations are preparing even more sanctions.
A peace talk was held between Moscow and Kyiv in the Belarusian borders on Monday, being the first meeting since last Thursday when the war broke out.
The meeting ended with both sides merely agreeing to hold a second round of negotiations ‘soon’ without much conclusions.
Read Also: Putin Accuses Ukraine Of Not Utilising Opportunity For Talks
However, the Russian leader was able to pass the message on the only conditions under which he would consider withdrawing his troops from the neighbouring country during a phone conversation with France President, Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
‘Putin stressed that a settlement is possible only if Russia’s legitimate security interests are unconditionally taken into account, including the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the demilitarisation and denazification of the Ukrainian State and ensuring its neutral status,‘ CNN quoted a Russian statement after the two leaders held conversations.
The war started on Thursday when President Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine over some political reasons.
Even as the dialogue was underway on Monday, at least 11 people were killed by Russian attacks in Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv.
Africa Today News, New York had on Sunday reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier lambasted Ukrainian authorities over what he described as wasting ‘an opportunity’ to hold talks earlier with Moscow.
The Kremlin claimed that Putin had briefed Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett about ‘the course of a special military operation to protect Donbas’.
According to the statement, Putin had during the call, pointed out that, he ‘also noted that the Russian delegation is in the Belarus city of Gomel and is ready for negotiations with representatives of Kyiv, who, showing inconsistency, have not yet taken advantage of this opportunity’.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK