Russia Kremlin leader Putin against ceasefire in Ukraine
Following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin also rejects a possible ceasefire in the Ukraine war without preconditions. Ukraine could use a ceasefire to arm itself for new attacks, which is why a sustainable solution to the conflict must first be negotiated, Putin said. The Russian President referred to earlier agreements on the Ukraine conflict from times before the Russian invasion, which ultimately ended up "in the garbage can".
04.07.2024, 17:32
SDA
The agreements mentioned by Putin referred to several ceasefires that applied between the Moscow-backed rebels in the areas of eastern Ukraine under their control and Ukrainian troops. "Therefore, we cannot simply declare a ceasefire now in the hope that the other side will take some positive steps," Putin emphasized at the end of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which was founded for security issues, in the Kazakh capital Astana.
"We cannot allow the enemy to use this ceasefire to improve its situation, to arm itself, to refresh its army with the help of forced mobilization and to be ready to continue the armed conflict," Putin said. Russia had made several proposals for resolving the conflict.
Zelensky had previously rejected a ceasefire, as recently proposed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Ukraine is not prepared to negotiate under the current circumstances and is demanding Russia's complete withdrawal from all occupied territories, including Crimea, as a prerequisite for peace.
A mediation offered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Astana between Moscow and Kiev has been rejected by the Kremlin. At the meeting in Kazakhstan, Putin emphasized that Russia is prepared to negotiate peace in its war of aggression against Ukraine. However, only mediators could not solve this. He claimed that Russia had always advocated a political-diplomatic solution to the conflict.
