When asked whether the Kremlin is considering the possibility of a Christmas or New Year’s truce and is ready to respond if such an offer comes from Kiev, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied: “No, no one has come up with an offer. That’s not on the agenda.” He stressed that the special operation is continuing.
On December 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, addressing the heads of the G7 countries, urged Moscow to withdraw its troops on the eve of the New Year holidays.
“I propose that Russia take a concrete and meaningful step towards the diplomatic solution that Moscow is often talking about. Soon we will have holidays celebrated by billions of people. “Christmas – according to the Gregorian calendar, or New Year and Christmas – according to the Julian calendar,” he said.
According to the head of Ukraine, it is worth “thinking about the world” during the holidays. He believes that the withdrawal of troops “will ensure a permanent cessation of hostilities”.
Zelensky also announced “three steps”, which he said would bring a peaceful end to the conflict.
“I ask you to respect the solidarity provided, Russia continues its aggression, which means that support for Ukraine must also continue. Next year, just like this year. But besides that, we must take the long-awaited steps to hasten the beginning of peace. There are three,” Zelensky said.
The first is “new power”. The Ukrainian leader said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces needs modern tanks, rocket artillery and long-range missiles.
The second step is the assistance of the Allies in maintaining Ukraine’s financial, energy and social stability. In particular, Zelensky had in mind the protection of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure from Russian attacks.
Zelensky is convinced that the third step to ending the conflict should be the implementation of the “peace formula.” It consists of 10 items and was presented by the Ukrainian president at the G20 summit in Indonesia in mid-November.
To set the time frame for the implementation of this plan, Zelensky proposes to hold a special summit called the Global Peace Formula Summit.
According to him, this position was agreed with the United States before the G7. “I spoke to President Joe Biden. As always – important, useful. We have strong agreements. We coordinated our positions with the United States,” he said.
Zelensky said Washington welcomes the formula. Among the topics, the leader of Ukraine talked about the need to ensure nuclear, food and energy security, the exchange of “held persons” according to the formula “for all”, as well as the withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine. Ukraine’s territorial integrity Zelensky stressed that “it will not be Minsk-3”.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said this position “absolutely confirms” Kiev’s lack of willingness to negotiate. On the contrary, the proposal of “steps towards peace” points to conflict. “These are three steps towards the continuation of hostilities,” said Peskov.
In addition, according to the Kremlin spokesman, it is out of question for Russian troops to withdraw from the special operations area before the end of 2022.
“The Ukrainian side needs to take into account the realities that have developed over this time,” Peskov said. We are talking about the emergence of new issues in Russia as a result of the referendums, he explained. A Kremlin spokesperson is confident that “no progress will be made without taking these new realities into account”. [по урегулированию] impossible”.
Andrey Marochko, an officer of the LPR People’s Militia, believes that Ukraine needs the withdrawal of Russian troops to regroup and strengthen its positions. “We lived for eight long years under the terms of the Minsk agreements, more than 20 different ceasefires were signed … There were Christmas and New Year ceasefires, as they were called by representatives of the tripartite contact group, but they did not work at all, ”said the NSN official.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that a peaceful resolution of the conflict can only be achieved through diplomacy. According to him, the quartet grain agreement, to which Ankara is also a party, sets an example for this.
“We saw, through the example of the grain agreement and the prisoner exchange, that if diplomacy is allowed, the road to peace can be paved,” he believes.
Erdogan said that the Turkish side continues to hold talks with the presidents of Ukraine and Russia in this direction. Hopefully, we will first achieve a ceasefire and then lasting peace in our region,” he said.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also believes that peace negotiations will lead to an end to hostilities: “At some point, most likely, this will end with diplomacy and negotiations.” According to him, the US wants “a long-term peace, not a fictitious ceasefire”.
But the Russian Foreign Ministry is confident that Kiev is not in the mood to resolve the conflict. This was expressed by Ivan Nechaev, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The Ukrainian leadership is purely militant. Not a word about the cessation of hostilities or the ceasefire. “Kyiv is determined to escalate the conflict,” he said.
He noted that at the G20 meeting, Zelensky presented “another list detached from reality” with 10 points.
He deliberately ignored the issue of negotiation, but clearly showed the desire for Kiev to fight to the end,” he said.
Valeriy Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, “rejects any idea of negotiations, reaches a compromise,” Nechaev said.