During Friday, information came that Russian President Vladimir Putin is opening negotiations on a ceasefire.
Now Ukraine’s foreign minister has commented on the outcome:
“Putin is desperately trying to derail the peace summit in Switzerland. He is afraid that it will be a success,” writes Dmytro Kuleba X.
According to Russian sources, Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine. But then it seems to be based on the premise that occupied parts of the country should remain under Russian control.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that Putin sees this as a way of trying to take the spotlight away from the negotiations to be held in Switzerland on June 15-16. Lieutenant Colonel Joakim Paasikivi says that similar moves from Putin have come before.
– When Ukraine is carrying out its peace process as it is doing now, with the meeting it has called in Switzerland, Russia usually tries to appear as the peace-loving party. Then it is always done in the terms that “yes, we want to negotiate peace as long as we get to keep what we took and get a little more”, says Joakim Paasikivi to TV4 Nyheterna.
Dmytro Kuleba further writes on X that Putin sends out “false signals of alleged readiness for a ceasefire despite Russian troops continuing to brutally attack Ukraine with missiles and drones raining down on Ukrainian cities and areas”.
The negotiations are based on the current front
Even President Putin has commented on the information about being ready to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. He did so during a visit to Belarus, with President Aleksandr Lukashenko:
– We now see that there is again talk of the need for negotiations. And gladly so, Vladimir Putin said during the visit.
He went on to question the legitimacy of the Ukrainian leadership and who in Kiev to negotiate with. He also highlighted the previous Russian position that the negotiations are based on the current front.
– Negotiations must be resumed based on today’s actual circumstances, Putin said.