Russia’s first proposed document for 2022, purportedly an attempt to end so-called ‘special operations’ in Ukraine, actually resembles a surrender agreement, Radio Free Europe reported on Monday.
Documents obtained by European-based media show that on March 7, 2022, 11 days after the Russian invasion began and a week after talks between Moscow and Kiev began, Russia announced a ‘resolution of the situation in Ukraine and Kiev’. A document called ‘Agreement’ was submitted. “Neutrality of Ukraine.”
But according to the media, ‘Ukraine’s neutrality’ essentially meant that Russia hoped to turn the former Soviet state into a ‘puppet’ regime for the Kremlin.
Ukrainian soldiers are seen fighting a Russian raiding party in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, on February 26, 2022. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP, via Getty Images)
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The Russian proposal appears to require Kiev to give up the Crimea peninsula, which Russia occupied a decade ago, and Donbass, where separatists have been fighting Ukrainian troops since 2014. However, Ukraine demanded that both Donetsk and Luhansk be handed over. It is a region that makes up the easternmost part of Ukraine and is an area that Russia has still been unable to capture despite years of brutal fighting.
The proposal also called on Kiev to promise never to join the NATO alliance and to reduce its military to 50,000 from the 250,000-strong force before the invasion.
Four ships, 55 helicopters and 300 tanks have reportedly been allowed to remain in Ukraine.
If Kiev had agreed to the terms, it would also have been banned from possessing or developing missiles with an attack range of 250 kilometers (155 miles). This is approximately the distance that separates the Crimean bridge from the territory of the Ukrainian-controlled front. Routes in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Ukrainian soldiers ride a BREM-1 evacuation tank near the Bukhledar front, Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 6, 2023. (Reuters/Lisi Nisner)
The talks failed in late April 2022 after Ukraine rejected Moscow’s terms and successfully ended Russia’s attempt to seize Kiev. In the same month, the extent of the atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha was also revealed.
After nearly 1,000 days of war, Russia has not been able to actually take any territory from Ukraine since its invasion on February 22, 2022. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk in September of that year.
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Several attempts to hold peace talks were pursued, but to little avail. Because Ukraine is adamant that the war will end once Russia withdraws its troops and stops its illegal invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (center left) inspects the site of recent fighting in Bucha, near Kiev, Ukraine, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Following Ukraine’s success over the past two years in preventing Russian troops from seizing its capital, driving Russia out of several key areas and largely holding its eastern front, it suffered a minor setback this year as U.S. military support was temporarily slowed. . Defended Moscow’s failures.
The United States and its NATO allies have provided substantial military support to Ukraine, but no international troop deployment has yet occurred, and concerns about Ukrainian personnel remain a key issue in the war.
According to Statista, Ukraine immediately began conscripting troops and significantly expanded its fighting force, with about 900,000 active-duty soldiers and an additional 1.2 million reservists as of 2024, but it still falls short of Russia’s size. army.
Russia has 1.3 million active-duty soldiers and 2 million reservists, and up to 10,000 North Korean soldiers are reportedly expected to join the war machine.
Ukrainian soldiers fire artillery towards Marinka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, February 23, 2024. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Russia is currently suffering more casualties than at any time since the war began, with about 1,200 casualties reported per day, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week.
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Despite heavy troop losses, there is still no sign of the war ending. This validates early fears that this would be a war of attrition.
Reports earlier this year suggested that Putin may agree to stop fighting on the current front, but Putin has repeatedly said that Ukraine would have to agree not to join NATO to end the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not only flatly refused to cede any territory to Russia and called for the Crimea peninsula to be returned to Ukraine, but has also made it clear that Kiev’s membership in the NATO alliance is a top security priority.
