(Moscow and Kyiv) Russian President Vladimir Putin de facto set Ukraine’s surrender on Friday as a condition for talks, on the eve of a summit in Switzerland devoted to ways to achieve peace and of which Russia is excluded.
The master of the Kremlin, whose army has for months regained the initiative on the battlefield against Ukrainian forces lacking men and ammunition, demanded that Kyiv abandon its ambition to join NATO and withdraw its forces from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
“As soon as Kyiv […] begins the effective withdrawal of troops and it notifies the abandonment of its plan to join NATO, we will immediately, this very minute, give the order to cease fire and begin negotiations,” said Mr. Putin to the executives of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
And he once again insisted that he wanted a “neutral, non-aligned, without nuclear weapons, demilitarized and denazified” Ukraine.
These demands constitute a de facto demand for capitulation by Ukraine, the objective of which is to restore its territorial integrity and maintain its sovereignty.
If Moscow has the initiative on the front, the Russian army, which has suffered considerable losses for two years, is unable to break through the Ukrainian lines and gain a decisive advantage over Ukraine.
The Kremlin proclaimed the annexation of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine in September 2022, in addition to Crimea in 2014.
Putin denounces “theft”
Vladimir Putin insisted on Friday that Ukraine must hand over all of these territories to Russia, even though Moscow only partially occupies them and fighting is still raging there.
PHOTO ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Russian President Vladimir Putin
The Russian president also denigrated the peace summit, from which Russia was excluded, planned in Switzerland for June 15 and 16 at the initiative of Ukraine. Kyiv hopes that the approximately 90 delegations present will reach a consensus to increase pressure on Russia and its isolation.
Mr. Putin dismissed a “stratagem to divert everyone’s attention” from the real people responsible for the conflict, namely, in his reading, Ukraine and the West.
Mykhaïlo Podoliak, advisor to the Ukrainian presidency, insisted that Russian demands “clash with common sense” and constitute “an offense against international law”.
Vladimir Putin also denounced Thursday’s decision by the G7 to guarantee a $50 billion loan to Ukraine with future interest on Russian assets frozen since the start of the Russian offensive.
“Western countries have frozen part of Russian assets and foreign currency reserves. And now they are thinking about a legal basis to definitively appropriate them,” he declared, “even if we embellish things, theft is still theft and it will not go unpunished.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky considered it “right that Russia pays”, but demanded from the G7 the pure and simple confiscation of the 300 billion euros of assets of the Russian central bank frozen by the West for two years, which they refuse for legal reasons.
Surprise confession
Finally, the Russian president made a surprise revelation on the objectives of the first days of his assault, he who had always affirmed that his offensive was not aimed at the conquest of Ukrainian territories.
On Friday, he said one goal was to conquer Mariupol, a port city that suffered a horrific siege in 2022, and another was to force Ukraine to grant him a land bridge across southern Ukraine to linking Russia to annexed Crimea.
Mr. Putin thus said that he had “not ruled out” giving Kyiv sovereignty over the south of the country, “provided, however, that Russia has a solid land link with Crimea”.
He said that this claim had been served on March 5, 2022 to a distinguished guest who offered his mediator services. The Russian president did not reveal the name of this official, but that day the then Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, was in the Kremlin.
Crossed drone and missile strikes from Kyiv and Moscow
Ukraine and Russia attacked each other with drones and missiles overnight from Thursday to Friday, injuring several people in Ukraine and damaging a fuel storage site in a Russian border region.
PHOTO GLEB GARANICH, REUTERS
A view of Kyiv at sunrise during an air raid alert on June 14
Both countries have stepped up cross-border air attacks in recent months, with Kyiv targeting Russian refineries and fuel depots and Moscow targeting Ukrainian power plants and gas storage facilities.
On the Russian side, anti-aircraft defenses shot down 87 Ukrainian drones during the night, 70 of which targeted the southern region of Rostov, which notably houses the headquarters of the Russian operation in Ukraine.
According to the governor of the region Vassili Goloubev, the attack did not cause any casualties, but caused power cuts in several localities.
ILLUSTRATION VALENTIN RAKOVSKY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A map of areas controlled by Ukrainian and Russian forces in Ukraine as of June 13
In the Voronezh region, bordering Ukraine, “an oil depot was slightly damaged” by falling debris from downed drones, Governor Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.
The Ukrainian air force announced that it had destroyed 14 missiles and 17 Russian drones during the night.
A new wave of strikes was also underway in the morning, with Kinjal missiles flying over the Kyiv region and heading towards the Khmelnytsky region, further west, according to the same source.
The Khmelnytsky region has a military airfield that has been repeatedly targeted by Russia.
In Solyodvé, near the front line in the eastern region of Donetsk, “six people were injured” and around ten buildings damaged during a Russian bombardment, said Governor Vadym Filashkin.
Three people were also injured in a drone attack in the Sumy region (North-East) and several buildings were hit by a fire in the neighboring region of Kharkiv, the target of a Russian ground offensive since May 10.