“Ukrainian troops must be completely withdrawn from the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions,” Putin said in a televised address to Russian diplomats in Moscow.
Russia claimed to have annexed the four regions in 2022, despite not having full control over any of them.
The regional capitals of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are still in Ukrainian hands – meaning Putin is demanding Ukraine cede swathes of territory under its control as a precondition for negotiations.
“As soon as Kyiv says it is ready to do this and begins really withdrawing troops and officially renounces plans to join NATO, we will immediately, literally that very minute, cease fire and begin talks,” Putin said.
Russia was seeking “Ukraine’s neutral, non-aligned, non-nuclear status, its demilitarisation and de-Nazification,” he added.
