Putin Makes Cease-Fire Offer With Sweeping Demands on Ukraine’s Territory
President Vladimir V. Putin said on Friday that Russia would be ready to order a cease-fire in Ukraine and enter negotiations with its government if Kyiv withdrew troops from the four regions that Moscow has claimed as its own and dropped its aspirations to join NATO.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry quickly denounced Mr. Putin’s statement, saying that his goal was “to mislead the international community, undermine diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a just peace and split the unity of the world over the goals and principles of the United Nations Charter.”
Mr. Putin’s new announcement stipulates that Ukraine effectively surrender huge swaths of its land to Moscow, including the capitals of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. They represent Mr. Putin’s most concrete set of territorial conditions to stop the war to date.
