Russia audaciously demands Ukraine be demilitarized, recognize 20% of nation no longer belongs to Kyiv as Putin refuses Trumps push for peace

Russia shamelessly demanded that the US lift its sanctions and that Kyiv be “demilitarized” and recognize that 20% of Ukraine belongs to the Vladimir Putin-led nation as it refused President Trump’s push for peace just days after his envoy returned to Moscow for yet another round of talks.Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Monday that Russia will accept nothing less than total victory over Ukraine after Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff made no progress in ending the country’s three-year war when he met with Putin Friday.

When asked by Brazilian newspaper O Globo “what terms would Russia agree to come to the negotiation table with Ukraine,” Lavrov rattled off a list of Ukrainian red-line items — and mentioned no willingness to make even the smallest concessions, such as the US-proposed return of a small, occupied portion of Kharkiv.Lavrov said “the international recognition of Crimea, Sevastopol, (Donetsk), (Luhansk), Kherson and Zapor(i)zh(ia) regions as part of Russia” is an “imperative,” insisting that not just the world — but also Kyiv itself — recognize 20% of Ukraine as sovereign Russian territory.“All the commitments (Kyiv) assumes must be legally binding, contain enforcement mechanisms and be permanent,” he said.That alone is a nonstarter.While Kyiv has shown a willingness to freeze the fighting lines where they are and acknowledge that Russia technically controls the occupied regions, its constitution outlaws the recognition of its land as belonging to any other nation.Since Witkoff began speaking with Russia roughly two months ago, Moscow has only upped its demands.

For example, its desire to annex Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts was never part of Putin’s original goals of the war when his forces launched the full-scale invasion in 2021.“The Kremlin is now explicitly demanding all of Kherson and Zaporizhia, which was not part of the 2021 demands,” said George Barros of the Institute for the Study of...