Putin Hints at Negotiations... Zelensky: "No Peace Without Territorial Return"

Bloomberg New Economy Forum Interview

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Amid indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin may come to the negotiating table, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has firmly stated that he will not engage in negotiations without the return of territory. Ukraine insists on Russia’s complete withdrawal and the restoration of all territories occupied by Russia as conditions for negotiations, leading analysts to believe that even if talks begin, a transition to a ceasefire phase will not be easy.

On the 17th (local time), President Zelensky said in a video interview at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum held in Singapore, "The only condition to end the nine-month war is to reclaim the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and the Donbas region currently occupied by Russia."

He stated, "A simple ceasefire is meaningless," adding, "Unless we liberate all our territory, peace cannot be achieved." He continued, "The Crimean Peninsula is part of our territory and part of our sovereignty," emphasizing again that "effective control over Crimea and Donbas, which are our sovereign territories, is a prerequisite to ending this war."

This statement came after receiving a message that President Putin wants peace talks with Ukraine. According to The Kyiv Independent, President Zelensky said the day before, "We received a signal from Western countries that President Putin wants to negotiate with us, and we proposed public negotiations instead of secret talks."

Since the outbreak of the war in February, the two countries have held several rounds of peace talks but have only confirmed disagreements over territorial concessions without finding common ground.

President Zelensky maintains the conditions of Russia’s complete military withdrawal and the return of Ukrainian territory for negotiations, so foreign media report that it is uncertain whether talks will start immediately or yield results even if they do.

According to the U.S. political media Axios, in response to U.S. officials urging negotiations, President Zelensky said he would negotiate with Russia if conditions such as territorial recovery, punishment of war criminals, and compensation for all damages caused by the war are met.

Earlier, at the end of September, President Zelensky signed a decree closing the possibility of negotiations with President Putin in response to Putin’s forced annexation of four Ukrainian regions (Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson) through referendums, and declared that he would talk with Putin’s successor, not Putin himself.

Foreign media also pointed out that it will not be easy to induce Russia to make territorial concessions. U.S. Axios reported, "The conditions set by Zelensky are clearly not acceptable to Russia," and "there will be no genuine negotiations for the time being."

In particular, The Hill reported that Crimea is the base of the Black Sea Fleet and the naval base in the southwestern port city of Sevastopol provides a military facility that enables access to the Mediterranean, South Atlantic, and Indian Ocean, making it unlikely that Putin will give up Crimea.

Since September, Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive, recovering parts of the eastern Donbas and southern Kherson regions, significantly weakening Russian forces. Foreign media evaluated that the withdrawal from Kherson, where forced annexation occurred following failure in the Battle of Kharkiv, could be a turning point in the war.

The U.S. Biden administration is using military support for Ukraine as leverage to persuade President Zelensky to sit at the negotiating table in the future. Following the midterm elections held on the 8th, where the Republican Party regained control of the House, there are prospects that support for Ukraine may decrease, and Western countries that have been aiding Ukraine are showing war fatigue due to prolonged conflict amid soaring energy prices such as oil and gas and ongoing inflation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.