Putin wants a buffer zone near Kharkiv and criticizes Kiev’s peace summit
Published: Friday, May 17th 2024, 16:51
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According to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, Russia does not want to occupy the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, which has been under fire for weeks, and allegedly only wants to set up a buffer zone there. As of today, there are no plans to take Kharkiv.
Putin said this on Friday to representatives of Russian state media at the end of his visit to China in the city of Harbin. A reporter had asked him the question after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi had visited the Kharkiv region, which had come under massive attack on Thursday. Selensky spoke of a stabilization of the situation there. The Russians had only reached the first of three lines of defense, Zelensky told journalists.
Putin stated that Russia was currently establishing a buffer zone there because the Russian region of Belgorod was being massively bombarded with drones and missiles from Kharkiv. Ukraine had only itself to blame for the recent massive strikes against the Kharkiv region because it was repeatedly attacking Russian territory. The authorities in Belgorod again reported massive drone fire from the Ukrainian side on Friday. Among other things, a car had been hit and a woman and her four-year-old son had been killed, said Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Other regions also reported drone attacks from the Ukrainian side, and there were several fires. However, Kharkiv has been massively shelled by Russian troops since the beginning of the war.
The situation around Kharkiv is still considered tense. Former Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy head of the National Security Council, had previously described Zelensky's trip to Kharkiv as a farewell visit. Because the leadership in Moscow repeatedly refers to Kharkiv as a Russian city, many experts assume that the Kremlin also wants to annex the region. Putin denied this for the first time, stating that there are currently no plans to do so.
Putin praises China and criticizes peace summit in Switzerland
At the end of his trip to China, Putin expressly praised Beijing's efforts to end the conflict over Ukraine. He said that he had spoken at length with party and state leader Xi Jinping about the war. China describes itself as neutral in the conflict, but is considered a supporter of Russia. At the same time, Putin criticized the Ukraine peace summit planned in Switzerland. The conference planned for June 15 and 16 near Lucerne was an attempt to impose conditions on Russia to end the conflict, he said.
Ukraine and the West hope that China will send a representative to the summit in Switzerland in order to lend more weight to the meeting. Speaking to journalists in Kiev, Zelenskyi said that many states would take part in the meeting. He recalled that China also stood up for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and had no sympathy for annexations in the country. The aim of the summit in Switzerland was a communiqué for a solution to the conflict. Ukraine wants to achieve energy security and an exchange of all prisoners, said Selensky.
Putin criticized the fact that Russia was not invited to the meeting, but was constantly reproached for not attending. Even Russia's allies do not see much point in the meeting if both warring parties do not take part.
Putin once again emphasized that Russia was ready for negotiations. He once again recalled that an agreement with the Ukrainian side to settle the conflict had already been reached in Istanbul shortly after the start of the war. There was a finished document that could now continue to be a basis for new negotiations, Putin said. The newspaper "Welt" also quoted from the document at the end of April under the title: "The secret document that could have ended the Ukraine war." According to Putin, Kiev and the West had decided at the time to continue the fight.
Ceasefire for the Olympics? Zelensky and Putin speak out
Selensky and Putin spoke independently of each other about the French idea of a ceasefire during the Summer Olympics in Paris. According to the online newspaper "Ukrajinska Pravda", Zelenskyi said that the details of the initiative were not clear to him, especially as Russia could use the opportunity to continue moving military equipment towards Ukraine.
The Ukrainian head of state once again emphasized that there had already been a ceasefire, but that this would not work with the Russian enemy. He also raised the question of "who will ensure that their forces do not advance towards us during a ceasefire". It is possible to move technology during this time and then launch an attack, the President warned. "So I don't understand the details. It sounds like a non-viable story to me so far."
Kremlin leader Putin said that Xi had approached him on the subject. Putin himself did not comment further on the content of his conversation. However, he criticized the West for demanding that Russia adhere to an Olympic truce, but not adhering to the Olympic idea itself by excluding Russian athletes.
The Kremlin had previously expressed doubts about the French initiative, as Ukraine could use the period of the games from July 26 to August 11 to further arm its armed forces and regroup for war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had stated that there were no concrete official proposals from Paris on how to proceed.
The idea of Olympic peace dates back to antiquity, but was also adopted as an idea when the games were revived in modern times. All hostilities should cease during the sporting event. However, this rule has been violated several times in the past.
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