Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 22 — According to foreign media reports on the 21st, during his meeting with U.S. President Trump in Alaska on the 15th, Russian President Putin proposed four conditions for ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donbas region and Ukraine’s inability to join NATO.
This is the exterior view of the Kremlin, taken in Moscow, Russia on March 18th. Photo by Bai Xueqi for Xinhua News Agency.
Reuters, citing anonymous sources familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking on the 21st, reported that Russia’s conditions include: the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the Donbas region, or the conflict will not stop; in exchange, the Russian military can freeze the current front line of contact between Russia and Ukraine in the Zaporozhe and Kherson regions; Ukraine cannot join NATO; Russia cannot accept the deployment of peacekeeping ground troops in Ukraine by Western countries.
The report said that the White House, NATO, and Ukraine have not commented on the content of the report.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said on the 21st that the presence of foreign troops in Ukrainian territory is unacceptable to Russia.
Lavrov said at a press conference after meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj in Moscow that the essence of the discussion between the West and Ukraine is to provide security through armed intervention in some parts of Ukrainian territory. “I hope they understand that such ideas will be absolutely unacceptable to Russia and all rational political forces in Europe.”
Lavrov also stated that Ukrainian President Zelensky has not yet abolished the ban on direct negotiations with Putin, “The Ukrainian side calls for a summit meeting just to show a so-called constructive approach to resolving the Ukrainian crisis and use it as an alternative to serious, difficult, and sustainable efforts to resolve the crisis.” He also said that before Russia and Ukraine sign an agreement, the legitimacy of those who sign it on the Ukrainian side should be resolved first.
This is a photo of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov taken on January 14th. Photo by Bai Xueqi for Xinhua News Agency.
Reuters, quoting Zelensky’s statement to the media released by Kiev on the 21st, reported that the Ukrainian side refused to withdraw its troops from the Donbas region. Zelensky said that Donbas is related to “our country’s survival and is where our strongest defense line is located.” As for Ukraine’s accession to NATO, Zelensky said it was not up to Russia to decide.
Trump, in an interview with Fox News on the 19th, said that the United States will help Ukraine defend, but will not send ground troops to Ukraine, “I can guarantee this.”
Trump also reiterated that Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO.
However, according to his statement, some European countries have agreed to provide Ukraine with protection measures similar to those provided by NATO, including “security guarantees”. On the 21st, Lavrov stated that recent statements and actions from Europe indicate that they are trying to undermine the results of the meeting between Russian and US leaders in Alaska, attempting to resolve the Ukrainian crisis in a way that ignores Russian interests. On August 18th, Trump held a series of meetings with Zelensky and several European leaders at the White House. At the end of the meeting, Trump made a phone call with Putin, and subsequently announced that he had started to arrange a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, followed by a tripartite meeting between the leaders of the United States, Russia, and Ukraine.