The Kremlin on Wednesday, May 13, said Ukraine would need to withdraw its forces from Donbas and territories claimed by Moscow before Russia would move toward meaningful peace negotiations.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky would need to order Ukrainian troops to leave the territories to “open a corridor” toward peace talks.
“The war could be stopped at any moment,” if Kyiv accepted Moscow’s demands, Peskov said, reiterating longstanding Kremlin conditions that Ukraine surrender territory in Donbas – demands Kyiv has repeatedly rejected.
Peskov also said Russia had not yet received an official response from the United States regarding recent tests of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile system.
What the Kremlin did say about peace talks
The latest remarks came days after Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed the war in Ukraine was “moving toward its end” during Moscow’s Victory Day events.
However, Peskov later acknowledged there were still no concrete details regarding a possible settlement.
“The accumulated groundwork in terms of the peace process allows us to say that the end is drawing near,” Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. “But in this context, it is not possible at the moment to speak about any specifics.”
He added that Russia remained open to contacts with the United States while continuing what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” after a temporary ceasefire expired earlier this week.
Why Moscow is making these statements now
The Kremlin has increasingly projected confidence publicly despite the war entering its fifth year and Russia continuing to suffer battlefield/battlespace and economic pressure.
US analyst Paul Goble previously told Kyiv Post that Putin’s recent messaging appeared aimed more at domestic audiences than genuine negotiations.
“Putin is floating the idea that his war in Ukraine may be nearing an end – not because that is happening – but rather he wants to calm some in Russia about what is happening in Ukraine,” Goble said.
Russia continues to demand that Ukraine cede occupied territories in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions as part of any settlement – conditions Kyiv has consistently rejected.
A recent analysis by The Economist asserted that Kyiv has gained the upper hand in the war based on Moscow’s high troop losses and current net territorial losses – the first since 2024, when Kyiv launched an offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.
By hinting that the war could be winding down, Putin is also attempting to weaken international momentum behind further military aid for Ukraine, Goble argued.
“He wanted to end the war but the West is preventing it,” Goble said, describing what he called a familiar Kremlin tactic of publicly talking about peace while continuing military operations.
“Classic Putin statecraft,” Goble added.