“Maybe I’m going over the allotted time, but the question of peace is worth it.”
With these words, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky began his speech at the G20 summit on Tuesday, in which he presented his plan to end the armed conflict with Russia since last February 24.
“I want this aggressive Russian war finish fairly and on the basis of the Charter of the United Nations and international law,” said the president, who addressed via videoconference his colleagues from the 20 largest economies in the world, who are meeting these days in the Indonesian town of Nusa Dua.
However, Zelensky warned that I wouldn’t accept a peace“at any cost” and this was made clear in his so-called “formula for peace”.
Moscow immediately rejected the proposal.
Sovereignty and independence are priority
Zelensky’s proposal contains 10 points and among them “the restoration of the territorial integrity” of his country and the withdrawal of Russian troops stand out.
Zelensky conditions any negotiations with Russia on the return of the occupied territories and the withdrawal of troops from Moscow.
Since last February 24 the Kremlin launched its so-called “Special Operation” with the excuse of “denazifying and demilitarizing” its western neighbor, its soldiers have come to occupy almost 20% of the Ukrainian territory.
“Russia must reaffirm Ukraine’s territorial integrity within the framework of United Nations resolutions and legally binding documents. This is not subject to negotiation,” she noted.
Immediately followingwards, Zelensky returned to ask Moscow to order his army to return to its territory.
“Russia must withdraw all its troops and formations on the territory of Ukraine, Ukraine’s control over all our borders with Russia must be restored. This will result in a real and complete cessation of hostilities.”
However, the president affirmed that an eventual end to hostilities will not be enough and that the independence of his country will continue “in danger”. The reason? Ukraine is not part of any alliance and, therefore, demanded a new international treaty that guarantee its security and sovereignty.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has already ruled out making any negotiations conditional on the return of the Ukrainian provinces that Moscow annexed last September.
A proposal that Moscow has flatly ruled out. “(Zelensky) is complicating the possibility of reaching an agreement by setting unrealistic conditionsRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
And these three points have already been rejected in the past by the Kremlin.
“I want you to listen to me in Kyiv and in the West: the people of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia have become our citizens forever,” declared Russian President Vladimir Putin himself at the end of September.
“About Donetsk, Luhansk, Jerson and Zaporiyia there is nothing to talk regarding”he warned.
For the people and the energy
The return of the thousands of Ukrainians who have been transferred to Russia is another of the demands that appear in Zelensky’s proposal.
Kyiv demands that Moscow stop using the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant as a weapon to blackmail its forces and the rest of the world.
“Thousands of our citizens, civilians and military, are in captivity and are subjected to brutal torture“, he claimed.
“We know that eleven thousand children were forcibly deported to Russia and are separated from their parents with full knowledge that they have families,” he added, while assuring that they have identified these little ones.
The fifth request listed in the plan relates to punishment for war crimes that occurred in towns like Bucha.
“Every time we liberate our land we find one thing: Russia leaves behind torture chambers and mass graves full of murdered people,” said Zelensky, who asked the leaders to support the creation of a special court to punish the human rights violations that have occurred since February 24.
The sixth request that appears in the roadmap presented by the Ukrainian leader is that Moscow cease its efforts to “turn cold into a weapon” and to stop their attacks on power plants.
The seventh proposal is also related to energy, but with atomic energy. Zelensky demanded that “radiological safety” be restored and demanded that Russia stop using the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant as “a radioactive bomb” with which it “blackmails the world.”
Zelensky demands that Russia stop using food and energy as weapons to try to break the country and its allies.
food for the world
The indefinite continuation of the program that has allowed Ukraine to resume grain exports and measures to prevent further damage to the country’s forests and other natural landscapes are other conditions.
Finally, the president asked for everything agreed to be reflected in pcall.
The fact that Minister Lavrov was in the room when Zelensky presented his “peace formula” was seen as a good sign, said Olga Prosvirova of the BBC’s Russian service.
However, the subsequent reactions of the head of Russian diplomacy and Moscow made it clear that despite the advance of the Ukrainian army, Putin is not yet ready to change his mind.
Russia has responded to the Ukrainian proposal with new missile attacks on various cities and towns.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine does not want to negotiate.
“Ukraine, both de facto and de jure, cannot and does not want to negotiate. The objectives of the Russian Federation will be carried out through the continuation of a special military operation,” Peskov said.
A few hours later, Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities were hit by Russian missiles.
In recent days, different media have reported that Ukraine’s allies have expressed their desire for the parties to sit down at a table to end the conflict.
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