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Ukraine peace talks: What are Kyiv and Moscow's positions? / Photo: © POOL/AFP
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Ukraine peace talks: What are Kyiv and Moscow's positions?
Delegations from Kyiv and Moscow on Monday held a second round of direct talks on the possibility of ending the war in Ukraine, triggered by Russia's February 2022 invasion.
The two sides exchanged their visions of what a peace settlement could look like at the negotiations, mediated by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, which once again did not yield a ceasefire.
Despite the flurry of diplomacy urged on by US President Donald Trump, their demands have thus far been irreconcilable.
- Territory for Russia -
Hours after the talks concluded, Russian state news agencies published the full list of Moscow's peace terms that confirmed its maximalist claims.
Russia has repeatedly demanded it retains territory in southern and eastern Ukraine that it occupies and for Kyiv to cede even more land.
Moscow in 2022 annexed four Ukrainian regions -- Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson -- despite not having full control over them.
In its roadmap to peace, something what Russia calls a "memorandum", it demanded Ukraine to pull its forces out of parts of those regions that its army still controls as a prerequisite to any peace settlement.
Russia also annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and fully controls it since then.
Ukraine has said it will never recognise its occupied territories, including Crimea, as Russian.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Kyiv may be forced to try to secure their return through diplomatic means -- effectively conceding that Russia could maintain control over some land in any peace deal.
The Russian memorandum starts from a clause saying that all Moscow-occupied territories in Ukraine must be recognized.
- Russia demands on NATO -
Russia has also demanded that Ukraine be barred from joining the NATO military alliance, and has repeatedly said it wants Zelensky removed from office.
Russia had intended to topple Zelensky when it launched its invasion in 2022, with Putin calling in a televised address for Ukraine's generals to oust him in a coup d'etat and then open talks with Moscow.
After a ceasefire would be implemented, the Russian peace roadmap demands Ukraine to de-mobilise and set a date for new presidential elections. It also prohibits a presence of foreign troops or military infrastructure on Ukraine's territory.
Russian officials have throughout the war called for the "de-militarisation" and "de-Nazification" of Ukraine -- casting Kyiv as a neo-Nazi "regime".
Kyiv and the West have rejected those narratives.
The Moscow's peace memo also provides for an official status for the Russian language and a ban on a "Nazi propaganda" in Ukraine.
Russia also seeks to limit the size of Ukraine's army, wants Ukraine to be declared a neutral state, with its non-nuclear status confirmed, and for Western countries to stop supplying it with weapons and intelligence, according to the peace memo.
The Russian peace roadmap also includes clauses on a mutual refusal for claims of compensation for damage caused by the war and on stripping off limitations on the Russian Orthodox Church's activities in Ukraine.
- Security guarantees for Ukraine -
Zelensky has for months been calling for "security guarantees" for Ukraine to stop Russia invading again.
His top demand would be for Ukraine to be admitted to NATO, or for Ukraine to fall under the military alliance's Article Five collective defence term.
Trump has however, dismissed the possibility of Ukraine joining the bloc and Russia says NATO membership would be "unacceptable".
Instead, Kyiv is pushing for some other form of Western military commitment that would deter Moscow.
Britain and France are leading discussions about a possible European troop deployment to enforce any ceasefire, among a group of countries dubbed the "coalition of the willing".
But Kyiv still wants Washington to back up any "security guarantee".
Moscow has said it would not accept troops from NATO countries being deployed to Ukraine in any capacity.
- Ceasefire -
Zelensky wants an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to cover combat on air, sea and land.
Kyiv says meaningful discussions over a long-term peace deal can only happen once fighting has paused.
"First –- a full and unconditional ceasefire. Second –- the release of prisoners. Third -– the return of abducted children," Zelensky said Sunday on social media, outlining Kyiv's priorities for Monday's talks.
Putin has rejected Ukrainian and Western calls for an immediate ceasefire.
The Kremlin says it does not rule out agreeing some kind of ceasefire at Istanbul, but that talks should address the "root causes" and look to strike a "long-term settlement."
For Putin, the "root causes" of the conflict are grievances with Kyiv but also the West and NATO over what Russia sees is their expansion into former Soviet or communist countries.
Moscow has demanded strict limits on Ukrainian military activity should any truce be agreed -- such as a ban on mobilisation and halt to the flow of Western weapons.
E.Jones--SFF
