Putin Demands Ukraine Abandon Four Regions for Peace Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Ukraine to withdraw from four eastern regions partially occupied by his forces as a condition of peace talks, ahead of a Kyiv-backed conference on the war to which Moscow hasn’t been invited. Putin said Ukrainian forces should pull out from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of the country in return for a cease-fire by Russian troops. He also demanded Ukraine give up its bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in a televised speech before Foreign Ministry officials on Friday. Putin’s statement came on the eve of a Swiss-hosted peace conference aimed at promoting Ukrainian demands for a Russian withdrawal from its territory. His offer amounted to a call for Ukraine to surrender its territories in return for peace talks, something Kyiv has consistently rejected since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Read more: