Russia demanded Ukraine cede more territory at Turkey talks, Ukrainian source says
That demand, along with others the Ukrainian official said were made at Friday's talks, went beyond the terms of a draft peace deal that the United States proposed last month after consultations with Moscow.
The talks in Istanbul, the first direct contacts between the two sides in three years, ended with agreement for a prisoner exchange but failed to agree to a ceasefire. A Ukrainian source had said on Friday the Russians had made conditions he described as "non-starters", without giving details.
At a briefing with reporters on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked about the terms that, according to the Ukrainian official, Moscow put forward, but he declined to comment, saying the discussions need to take place behind closed doors.
The Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of the talks, said Russian proposed the following terms for a peace deal:
* The withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, only after which there can be a ceasefire. The regions are largely or partially controlled by Russian forces, but Ukrainian troops are still fighting to hold on to the remaining parts of the regions. There was no such demand in the draft deal prepared by the United States.
* International recognition that five parts of Ukraine -- the Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014, as well as the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions -- are Russian. The U.S. draft had proposed only U.S. de jure recognition for Crimea, and U.S. de facto recognition for Russian-controlled parts of the other regions.
* Ukraine becomes a neutral state, has no weapons of mass destruction, and Kyiv's allies will not station any of their troops on Ukrainian soil. This demand was absent from the U.S. proposal.
* All sides in the conflict renounce their claims to receive compensation for war damages. The U.S. proposal had stipulated that Ukraine receives compensation.
According to the Ukrainian official, Russian negotiators transmitted those demands verbally, and did not share any document containing their terms.
Ukraine has already said the Russian negotiating position in Istanbul showed it was not serious about peace. Kyiv's European allies are now pressing U.S. President Donald Trump to impose new sanctions on Russia.
The head of the Russian delegation at the talks expressed satisfaction with the meeting, and said Moscow was willing to keep talking to Kyiv.
The U.S. draft peace proposal from April was prepared after Trump envoy Steve Witkoff flew to Moscow for rounds of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kyiv and European allies drafted an alternative proposal, which stated there should be a ceasefire first so negotiations could start, and deferred any discussion of territory until later.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
2 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump and Netanyahu appear to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump appeared on Friday to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, both claiming it had become clear that the Palestinian militants did not want a deal. Netanyahu said Israel was now considering "alternative" options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the rule of Hamas in the territory. Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be "hunted down". The remarks appeared to leave little to no room, at least in the short term, to resume negotiations to pause the fighting, at a time when international concern is mounting over worsening hunger in war-shattered Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron, responding to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, announced overnight that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognise an independent Palestinian state. Britain and Germany said they were not yet ready to do so. Israel and the United States withdrew their delegations on Thursday from the ceasefire talks in Qatar, hours after Hamas submitted its response to a truce proposal. Sources initially said on Thursday that the Israeli withdrawal was only for consultations and did not necessarily mean the talks had reached a crisis. But Netanyahu's remarks suggested Israel's position had hardened overnight. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, and Netanyahu said Witkoff had got it right. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Facebook that the talks had been constructive, and criticised Witkoff's remarks as aimed at exerting pressure on Israel's behalf. "What we have presented - with full awareness and understanding of the complexity of the situation - we believe could lead to a deal if the enemy had the will to reach one," he said. The proposed ceasefire would suspend fighting for 60 days, allow more aid into Gaza, and free some of the 50 remaining hostages held by militants in return for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel. It has been held up by disagreement over how far Israel should withdraw its troops and the future beyond the 60 days if no permanent agreement is reached. Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X: "The humiliating negotiation ceremony with terrorists is over. Mr Prime Minister, now is the time for victory!" International aid organisations say mass hunger has now arrived among Gaza's 2.2 million people, with stocks running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, then reopened it in May but with new restrictions. The Israeli military said on Friday it had agreed to let countries airdrop aid into Gaza. Hamas dismissed this as a stunt. 'The Gaza Strip does not need flying aerobatics, it needs an open humanitarian corridor and a steady daily flow of aid trucks to save what remains of the lives of besieged, starving civilians,', Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, told Reuters. Gaza medical authorities said nine more Palestinians had died over the past 24 hours from malnutrition or starvation. Dozens have died in the past few weeks as hunger worsens. Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to distribute it, in what the Israeli foreign ministry called on Friday "a deliberate ploy to defame Israel". The United Nations says it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions. United Nations agencies said on Friday that supplies were running out in Gaza of specialised therapeutic food to save the lives of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The ceasefire talks have been accompanied by continuing Israeli offensives on the ground. Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes and gunfire had killed at least 21 people across the enclave on Friday, including five killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City. In Gaza City, residents carried the body of journalist Adam Abu Harbid through the streets wrapped in a white shroud, his blue flak jacket marked PRESS draped across his body. He was killed overnight in a strike on tents housing displaced people. Mahmoud Awadia, another journalist attending the funeral, said the Israelis were deliberately trying to kill reporters. "We will stay, we will continue this message of exposing the crimes of the Israeli occupation and its systematic targeting of our journalist colleagues," he said. Israel denies intentionally targeting journalists. Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli towns near the border, killing some 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, health officials there say, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins. Israel and the United States criticised Macron's decision to recognise Palestinian independence. Netanyahu called it a "reward for terrorism". Western countries have been committed for decades to an eventual independent Palestinian state but have long said it should arise out of a negotiated peace process. Europe's two other big powers, Britain and Germany, made clear there were no plans to act on Palestinian statehood right away. Germany has a long history of supporting Israel arising from its guilt in the Nazi Holocaust, while Britain has tried to avoid contradicting U.S. policy in the belief it best exerts influence as Washington's close ally. "Israel's security is of paramount importance to the German government," a German government spokesperson said. "The German government therefore has no plans to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term." Peter Kyle, a minister in Starmer's cabinet, told Sky News: "We want Palestinian statehood, we desire it... But right now, today, we've got to focus on what will ease the suffering, and it is extreme, unwarranted suffering in Gaza that has to be the priority for us today.
Reuters
3 minutes ago
- Reuters
Russia's lone aircraft carrier likely to be scrapped or sold, says shipbuilding chief
MOSCOW, July 25 (Reuters) - Russia's only aircraft carrier, the 40-year-old Admiral Kuznetsov, is likely to be sold or scrapped, the chairman of Russia's state shipbuilding corporation told the Kommersant newspaper in comments published on Friday. Andrei Kostin's remarks follow a report in the daily Izvestia newspaper earlier this month, which cited unnamed sources as saying long-running refit and maintenance work on the warship had been suspended. Launched in 1985 when the Soviet Union still existed, the Admiral Kuznetsov saw action in Russia's military campaign in Syria in support of then-President Bashar al-Assad, with its planes carrying out airstrikes against rebel forces. But it has played no role in the war in Ukraine and has been out of service since 2017, undergoing modernisation in the Murmansk area close to where Russia's Northern Fleet is based. Efforts to overhaul it have suffered repeated accidents and setbacks. Asked about its fate on Thursday on the sidelines of a flag-raising ceremony for a new nuclear submarine in northwestern Russia, Kostin made it clear that a final decision had not yet been taken, but suggested that the Admiral Kuznetsov was no longer worth spending money on. "We believe there is no point in repairing it anymore. It is over 40-years old, and it is extremely expensive ... I think the issue will be resolved in such a way that it will either be sold or disposed of," Kostin was quoted as saying by Kommersant. Detailed information about the combat readiness of individual warships is regarded as sensitive by Moscow and the Russian Defence Ministry does not comment on such matters. Russian naval veterans and experts are divided on the prospect of the warship being scrapped, with some telling Izvestia it is obsolete, and others saying it or a successor would provide a capability that Russia needs. The aircraft carrier gained notoriety in Britain when then-Secretary of Defence Michael Fallon dubbed it the "ship of shame" in 2017 when it passed close to the English coast on its way back from the Mediterranean belching black smoke.
Reuters
33 minutes ago
- Reuters
Thailand and Cambodia exchange heavy artillery fire as border battle expands
SURIN, Thailand, July 25 (Reuters) - Thailand and Cambodia exchanged heavy artillery fire for a second day on Friday as fighting intensified and spread, while Cambodia's leader said Thailand had agreed to a Malaysian ceasefire proposal but then backed down. At least 20 people have been killed and more than 130,000 people displaced in the worst fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours in 13 years. Both sides have blamed each other for starting the conflict and on Friday ratcheted up the rhetoric. Thailand accused Cambodia of deliberately attacking civilians and Cambodia condemned Thailand for using cluster munitions, controversial and widely condemned. Thailand's acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, said Cambodia had attacked on multiple fronts. "The situation has intensified and could escalate into a state of war. At present, it's a confrontation involving heavy weapons," he told reporters. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a social media post that he had agreed to a ceasefire proposed by his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim, chair of the ASEAN regional bloc, who had informed him that Phumtham had also agreed. "However, it is regrettable that just over an hour later, the Thai side informed that they had reversed their position," Hun Manet said. Thailand's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Anwar said both countries had agreed in principle to stop attacks, but that there were issues related to "some violations". He made no mention of a Thai withdrawal. Two senior Thai foreign ministry officials earlier said Bangkok had received offers of mediation from the U.S., Malaysia and China, but preferred to use bilateral mechanisms. Fighting re-erupted before dawn on Friday, with clashes reported in 12 locations, up from six on Thursday, according to Thailand's military. It accused Cambodia of using artillery and Russian-made BM-21 rockets to attack areas that included schools and hospitals. "These barbaric acts have senselessly claimed lives and inflicted injuries upon numerous innocent civilians," it said. "The deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime and those responsible must be brought to justice." It put the blame squarely on the Phnom Penh government, which it said was being steered by Hun Sen, influential former premier of nearly four decades and father of Hun Manet. Reuters journalists in Thailand's Surin province saw a Thai military convoy of about a dozen trucks, armoured vehicles and tanks cut across provincial roads ringed by paddy fields as it moved toward the border. Intermittent bursts of explosions could be heard. Soldiers marshalled traffic on a rural road along which artillery guns were being loaded and fired in succession, emitting orange flashes, loud explosions and grey smoke. The fighting started early on Thursday, quickly escalating from small arms fire to heavy shelling in multiple areas 210 km (130 miles) apart along a frontier where sovereignty has been disputed for more than a century. Thailand on Thursday deployed an F-16 fighter jet to strike a Cambodian military target, underlining its military advantage. Cambodia has no fighter aircraft and significantly less defence hardware and personnel. It appealed for the U.N. Security Council to address the issue. It said Thailand's bombardments had caused "significant and visible damage" to the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that both countries have laid claim to for decades. Thailand's military called the allegation "a clear distortion of facts". The trigger for the conflict was Thailand recalling its ambassador to Phnom Penh and expelling Cambodia's envoy on Wednesday, in response to a second Thai soldier losing a limb to a landmine that Bangkok alleged had been laid recently by rival troops. Cambodia denied that. Cambodia's government on Friday expressed outrage at Thailand's use of what it said was a large amount of cluster munitions, calling it a violation of international law. Thailand's military said Thailand was not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions but that it followed the principle of proportionality, "to enhance explosive destruction capabilities against military targets only". The death toll in Thailand rose to 19 on Friday, 13 of them civilians, with 62 people wounded. Cambodia's government has not reported any casualties, but a provincial official said one person had been killed. Thailand has prepared nearly 300 facilities for evacuees, more of which poured into shelters in Surin province after hearing shelling. Elderly people dozed while others queued for food to be served by volunteers as children played outside. Some evacuees sifted through donated clothing, others sat talking on floor mats, recounting how they had fled the fighting. "We heard very loud explosions, so we came here. We were so scared," said Aung Ying Yong, 67, wiping away tears with a towel. "So many people are in trouble because of this war ... we are very sad that we have to live like this."
