Putin’s minister issues ultimatum to Ukraine on ending war – follow live | CPT PPP Coverage

Ukraine wants a peace summit by the end of February, preferably at the United Nations with secretary-general Antonio Guterres as mediator.

Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said he was “absolutely satisfied” with the results of president Volodymyr Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the US last week – and that the White House plans to get a Patriot missile battery ready to be operational in the country in under six months. Usually, the training takes up to a year.

Mr Kuleba said Mr Guterres “has proven himself to be an efficient mediator and an efficient negotiator, and most importantly as a man of principle and integrity”, adding: “We would welcome his active participation.”

Ukraine will do whatever it can to win the war in 2023, he said.

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Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has asked Ukraine to fulfil Moscow’s proposals or face action from the Russian army, just a day after Vladimir Putin said he was open to talks.

“Our proposals for the demilitarisation and denazification of the territories controlled by the regime, the elimination of threats to Russia’s security emanating from there, including our new lands, are well known to the enemy,” Mr Lavrov said, reported state news agency TASS.

“The point is simple: Fulfil them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army,” he said, last night.

With Moscow softening its stance on ending the war with talks but also continuining to relentlessly shell and batter the territories in Ukraine’s east combined with its efforts of maximum land grab, Kyiv and its western allies have dismissed Putin’s offer to talk.

The Volodymyr Volodymyr Zelensky administration has refused to accept Mr Putin’s demand of ceding control of a fifth of the country and said it will counterattack Russian army till it withdraws from the country.