Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the Kremlin leader, Vladimir Putin, wants both Kyiv and the international community to recognize as part of the Russian Federation the territories that his army has conquered.
“Putin wants legal recognition for what he has stolen,” Zelenskyy said, adding that this Russian demand is “the main problem for moving towards peace.”
“He wants it not only from Ukraine, but from the whole world,” he added in a video message to the parliamentary forum of the Crimea Platform, whose fourth edition is being held today in Sweden.
According to Zelenskyy, his administration continues to work with the U.S. to shape a new revised agreement based on the initial document presented by Washington, which now includes some of Kyiv's demands.
“We have managed to keep extremely sensitive points on the table, including the release of all Ukrainian prisoners of war under the formula ‘all for all’ and the civilians,” Zelenskyy said in his speech.
Additionally, the Ukrainian president specified that the return of all Ukrainian children “kidnapped” by Russia from occupied territories is also included in the revised version of the framework agreement agreed upon by Ukrainians and Americans in Switzerland, which must now be presented to the Kremlin.
Ukraine also demands that war criminals be held accountable for their actions before justice.
In response, the Kremlin stated that it has not been informed of the modifications introduced by Ukrainians and Europeans to the original peace plan that the United States sent to Russia last week.
In a phone call with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Russian President Vladimir Putin adhered to the first version of the 28-point peace plan for Ukraine presented by the United States.
According to the Kremlin, “Vladimir Putin pointed out that these proposals, in the version that Russia has received, are in line with the discussions held during the Russia-U.S. summit in Alaska and, in principle, could lay the groundwork for a definitive peaceful settlement.”
Shortly before this conversation, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov had already made it clear that “we have not seen any plan (...) So far, we have not received anything official.”
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated his willingness to continue contributing to the settlement in Ukraine after three rounds of direct negotiations between Russians and Ukrainians that took place this year in Istanbul.
