Putin in no position to dictate what Ukraine must do to bring about peace – US Secretary of Defense

Commenting on the Russian leader's statement that in order to start peace talks, Ukraine must withdraw its Armed Forces from four of its oblasts and declare that it has no plans to join NATO, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recalled that Putin has illegally occupied the territory of a sovereign state, and thus cannot tell Ukraine what it must do to restore peace.

Source: European Pravda citing the Pentagon chief's words during a briefing in Brussels

Details: Austin recalled that the Kremlin leader has illegally occupied the territory of a sovereign state. He said that Putin is not in a position to tell Ukraine what it must do to establish peace.

"This is exactly the kind of behaviour we do not want to see. We don't want to see a leader of one country wake up one day and decide that he wants to erase borders and annex the territory of his neighbour," Austin said.

The head of the US Department of Defense stressed that Putin can end this unprovoked war, in which he has lost hundreds of thousands of military personnel wounded and killed, if he wants to.

"And we call upon him to do that and to leave Ukrainian sovereign territory," Austin said.

Earlier on Friday, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin talked about new "conditions for the start of peace talks": Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the entire territory of four Ukrainian oblasts, and Kyiv must declare that it has no plans to join NATO.

He wanted to speak on the eve of the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, which Russia has not been invited to attend and does not recognise as a real peace initiative.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry stated that Russian leader Vladimir Putin seeks to disrupt the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland with his ultimatum for the start of "peace talks".

On the eve of the summit, problematic provisions in the final document of the meeting, which could have had undesirable consequences for Ukraine, were corrected in Switzerland – the text of the decision was changed in recent days.

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