Putin tells Ukraine he is ready for peace talks – but only if Kyiv accepts ‘new territorial realities’
- Putin told Turkey’s President Erdogan he was open to peace dialogue with Kyiv
- However, Kremlin said this was only possible if Ukraine accepts that territories occupied by Moscow’s armies since the invasion began on Feb. 24 as Russian
- Erdogan called for peace talks in the phone call with Putin, his office said
Vladimir Putin told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan he was open to dialogue with Ukraine, but only if Kyiv accepts ‘new territorial realities’.
Russian troops occupy large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine. The Kremlin claims it has annexed the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions despite not controlling them in their entirety.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Putin told Erdogan peace talks are possible, but only if Ukraine accepts that territories occupied by Moscow as Russian.
‘Putin again confirmed Russia’s openness to serious dialogue on the condition of Kyiv authorities fulfilling the well-known and repeatedly voiced requirements of taking into account the new territorial realities,’ the Kremlin said in a statement.
Erdogan had called for peace talks in the phone call with Putin, his office said earlier.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured today) has told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan he was open to dialogue with Kyiv, but only if it accepts ‘new territorial realities’
‘The Russian side emphasised the destructive role of Western states, pumping the Kyiv regime with weapons and military equipment, providing it with operational information and targets,’ the statement from the Kremlin added.
This is not the first time Putin has expressed that he is ready for peace talks under the conditions set out by Moscow.
On Christmas Day, in an interview with state television about the war in Ukraine, Putin said that Russia is ‘prepared to negotiate some acceptable outcomes’.
The leaders also discussed the implementation of a landmark grain deal, brokered by the UN with the help of Turkey, to unblock Ukrainian grain.
The Kremlin said the pair discussed ‘the unblocking of food and fertiliser supplies from Russia’ and the need for ‘the removal of all barriers to Russian exports.’
Russia briefly exited the deal in October after a drone attack on its Black Sea Fleet. It re-entered the deal within days but officials have complained of restrictions on Russian products.
Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February last year, when he planned for a rapid takeover of Kyiv and much of the country. Instead, the war has seen Russian forces halted by a stubborn Ukrainian army backed by Western arms, forced to retreat from captured territory and struggling to avoid further setbacks.
Workers remove debris of a destroyed building purported to be a vocational college used as temporary accommodation for Russian soldiers, dozens of whom were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike as stated previously by Russia’s Defence Ministry, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Makiivka, Russian-controlled Ukraine, January 4, 2023
In recent days, the Russian army have faced a number of setbacks, with Ukraine striking several targets – resulting in what Kyiv says was hundreds of deaths.
Russia said Wednesday the toll climbed in its worst single reported loss from a Ukrainian strike, which an increasingly criticised Moscow blamed on troops using their mobile phones that gave away their location.
The Ukrainian military’s strategic communications unit has said nearly 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine, and even Russian commentators have said the death toll may be far higher than the 89 Russia admits.
The death toll in Makiivka is the highest reported by the Russian military in a single strike since its troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The deadly strike came after months of discontent within Russia towards the military following a series of battlefield defeats and a hugely unpopular mobilisation drive.
As Moscow grappled with the aftermath of the strike, France’s President Emmanuel Macron told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that his country would send French-made light tanks to help repel the Russian invasion.
A soldier from Carpathian Sich international battalion fires an RPG while conducting manoeuvres near the front line, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine, January 3
Meanwhile, Erdogan pressed Putin to declare a ‘unilateral’ ceasefire in Ukraine.
‘President Erdogan said that calls for peace and negotiations should be supported by a unilateral ceasefire and a vision for a fair solution,’ his office quoted Erdogan as telling Putin in a telephone call.
Erdogan was due to follow the talks with a separate conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later on Thursday. The Turkish leader has used his good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv to try and mediate an end to the war.
Turkey hosted two early rounds of peace talks and helped strike a UN-backed agreement restoring Ukrainian grain deliveries across the Black Sea. Erdogan has also repeatedly tried to bring Putin and Zelensky to Turkey for a peace summit.
Erdogan’s call for a ceasefire followed a proposal earlier Thursday by Russia’s spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill for an Orthodox Christmas truce this week.
The step was dismissed by Kyiv as a cynical trap.
Many Orthodox Christians, including those living in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate Christmas on Jan. 6-7.
‘I, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, appeal to all the parties involved in the internecine conflict to cease fire and establish a Christmas truce from 12:00 on Jan. 6 until 24:00 on Jan. 7 so that Orthodox people can attend services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,’ he said.
A senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Mykhailo Podolyak, cast the Russian Orthodox Church as a ‘war propagandist’ that had incited the ‘mass murder’ of Ukrainians and the militarisation of Russia.
‘The statement of the Russian Orthodox Church about the ‘Christmas Truce’ is a cynical trap and an element of propaganda,’ he said.
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Turkey’s Erdogan has been able to maintain good relations with Putin by refusing to join Western sanction on Russia and ramping up bilateral trade during the war.
The two leaders now have tentative plans to set up a natural gas hub in Turkey that can offer Russia an alternate way of supplying Europe with fuel.
Erdogan’s office said that Turkey ‘has strengthened and will continue to strengthen the infrastructure’ of the proposed hub.
Meanwhile, Erdogan said on Thursday he may meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of peace efforts after the highest-level talks in public between Ankara and the Damascus government since the Syrian war began in 2011.
In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan said a trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers from Turkey, Russia and Syria would first be held to further develop contacts after a landmark talks between defence ministers in Moscow last week.
Erdogan also said he will speak to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the Black Sea grain corridor and fertiliser issue following his phone call with Putin.
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