Russian President Vladimir Putin has three key demands to end the war against Ukraine, Sky News reported.
Putin is demanding that Ukraine hand over eastern Donbas, abandon its ambitions to join NATO and not allow Western troops into the country, according to the "Reuters" agency.
The Russian president wants the entire eastern Donbas region, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions - a large part of which Russia has already occupied, and the front lines could be frozen in Zaporizhia and Kherson.
Moscow insists that there should be no Western peacekeepers in Ukraine. And if the demands are not met, a source close to the Kremlin is quoted as saying that the war will continue. These demands are unacceptable to Ukraine, which has declared that it will never recognize its lands occupied by the Russian army as a legitimate part of the Russian Federation.
Sky News analysts point out that Russia and Ukraine are not close to peace - despite Donald Trump's enthusiasm.
Everything sounded so promising after the meeting in Alaska. A guarantee of mutual defense for Ukraine along the lines of NATO, provided by the US and negotiated by Vladimir Putin... This would be a huge concession won by Donald Trump during his meeting with the Russian president in Alaska.
The optimism continued to multiply, because, judging by the comments from Moscow, nothing has changed. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the current discussions on future security guarantees for Ukraine as a “road to nowhere”. Nothing has changed about the Kremlin’s demands: that Russia be among the group of guarantors, along with China, and that it have an effective veto over any efforts to protect Ukraine.
The same goes for a potential meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin. Trump has claimed it is imminent, but Moscow says Zelensky is an illegitimate leader. The Russian foreign minister has hinted that he would have to be re-elected before any peace deal is signed and before there is any presidential summit.