Kremlin says Russia's Ukraine peace stance unchanged since 2024

Investing.com -- Russia maintains its position on a Ukraine peace agreement that requires Kyiv to withdraw forces from four disputed regions and abandon NATO membership plans, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia's stance remains the same as outlined by President Vladimir Putin in 2024, when he demanded Ukrainian forces pull back from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and publicly drop NATO aspirations.

Putin said in a television interview over the weekend that Russia would continue its battlefield objective of fully controlling the four regions. He rejected what he described as a new Ukrainian proposal to reduce hostilities in the war that has lasted more than four years.

In the same interview, Putin said Ukraine had proposed a mutual halt to long-range strikes and suggested fighting should be limited to the four regions. Russia has claimed these territories as its own, while Kyiv rejects this as an illegal seizure of land.

The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not respond to a request for comment on Putin's remarks submitted during late-night hours in Ukraine.

Peskov also said Monday that Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko discussed the war during a weekend meeting. The two leaders also addressed bilateral relations, trade cooperation and European security, including what the Kremlin described as attempts to provoke Belarus.

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