Zelensky floats conditions for 'genuine' peace talks with Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky set five conditions for “genuine peace talks” with Russia in an address late Monday following pressure from Western allies who have been funding the Ukrainian resistance.

According to Zelensky, the conditions for talks include restoring Ukrainian control of its territories, compensation for damage caused by Russian forces, bringing justice to any perpetrators of war crimes and some sort of guarantee Moscow would not invade again.

According to President @ZelenskyyUa, conditions for peace negotiations with Russia are the following:

1. Restoring territorial integrity

2. Respecting UN Statute

3. Paying off all damages caused by war

4. Punishing each war criminal

5. Guarantees this won't happen again pic.twitter.com/8qsD5djOuU

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 7, 2022

The Ukrainian leader also called for “Respect for UN Statute,” but did not elaborate on what that meant.

The Ukrainian military has swept deep into Russian-occupied areas in the country’s east and has been pushing for more support. However, Western countries who have been providing Zelensky with funding and weapons have begun asking, quietly, for a peaceful outcome to the war due to pressures at home.

“The military assistance we give is so that when Ukraine does get to the negotiating table it is in the strongest possible position. That military support, our economic support, our humanitarian support, our political support will continue,” Karen Donfried, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told reporters on Tuesday.

Politico reported on Tuesday that the Ukrainian president’s new stance on peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to which he had been vehemently opposed, came from “soft nudging” by the Biden administration.

U.S. officials did not directly tell Kyiv to change its position but did say Zelensky must show its willingness to end the war reasonably and peacefully, according to a senior administration official.

This is a marked shift from October, when a letter by thirty of the House’s most left-leaning members sent a letter to Biden urging a diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine conflict was withdrawn after a harsh backlash from establishment Democrats.