Ukraine-Russia war: Putin sets conditions for ceasefire - but Ukraine says it is 'complete sham' (2024)

Earlier we reported comments by Volodymyr Zelenskyy that a ceasefire offer put forward by Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted.

In an interview with our Italian partner network Sky TG24, Mr Zelenskyy warned the Russian president would not stop his offensive, even if Ukraine agreed to hand over the regions Russia claims to have annexed.

He also drew a comparison between Mr Putin and Adolf Hitler's Nazi policies of expansion before the Second World War, saying: "It is the same thing that Hitler used to do... thisis why we should not trust these messages."

Watch the clip here...

Three Russian servicemen have reportedly died following an ammunition explosion in a Russian town about four miles north of the Ukraine border.

Shells from a thermobaric warhead, also called an aerosol bomb, exploded in Shebekino, as reported by the Russian Telegram channel Astra.

"Astra's sources in the region's emergency services reported that in the evening, ammunition from the Russian Solntsepyok MRLS thermobaric weapon system exploded in the suburb of Shebekino," the report said.

The cause of the explosion is unknown, but preliminary reports indicate it was "spontaneous".

Despite Astra's sources claiming three Russian servicemen died in the explosion, Shebekino's governor reported there were zero injuries .

Ten private households and one car were damaged, they said.

In a show of unity aimed at Vladimir Putin, G7 leaders meeting in Italy this week finally agreed to a deal to use profits from frozen Russian assets to provide around $50bn (£40bn) worth of support to Ukraine.

And in another significant announcement, Joe Biden signed a 10-year bilateral security deal between the US and Ukraine which Kyiv is calling "historic".

On this episode, Niall Paterson explores the impact these deals will have for Ukraine in its war against Russia with international editor Dominic Waghorn.

Prosecutors at theInternational Criminal Court (ICC) are reportedly investigating alleged Russiancyberattacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure as possiblewar crimes.

According to sources familiar with the case gathered by Reuters, the probe is examining attacks on infrastructure that endangered lives by disrupting power and water supplies, cuttingconnections to emergency responders or knocking out mobile dataservices that transmit air raid warnings.

Ukrainian teams are said to be helping to investigate cyberattacks committed from the beginning of the invasion in February 2022.

Probes could look as far back as 2015, the year after Russia's seizure and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

Moscow has previously denied that it carries outcyberattacks.

The ICC has already issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes.

In a statement, the court issued the warrant on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin has not offered a peace plan to Ukraine but instead set a list of "maximalist demands", says a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

Speaking today at a meeting with Russian foreign ministry officials, Mr Putin said his country would be ready for peace talks "tomorrow" if Ukraine agreed to his demands.

Those include the immediate withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the assurance that Ukraine will give up on its plans to join NATO.

"This is not a peace plan but a series of maximalist demands directed at the West and Ukraine in exchange for ending hostilities," Tatiana Stanovaya posted on X.

"Moscow offers no concessions; there is no scope for compromise."

Timing of Swiss summit

Mr Putin's peace proposal has come the day before world leaders are due to meet in Switzerland to hold an international peace summit.

The high-level gathering is aimed at broadening support for Kyiv's peace plan and dialling up pressure on Moscow to end the conflict.

The timing of Russia's peace plan immediately before the Swiss summit is "with the intention of devaluing it," according to Ms Stanovaya.

She added: "Contrary to the popular belief that 'Putin has time,' he urgently needs to consolidate Russia's military advantage in Ukraine through a 'peace process' to render this superiority irreversible, as Russia may lose its military advantage in the coming year.

"Thus, Moscow views the Swiss conference as an escalating action against Russia, an effort to solidify an anti-Russian stance globally, and the Kremlin is determined to thwart this."

Putin sowing destabilisation and discord

The Kremlin is also aware that a destabilised Ukraine and a divided West would bring Russia closer to its definition of victory in the conflict.

That, according to Ms Stanovaya, is a key reason for Mr Putin's peace plan announcement.

She argues that the plans are designed to spread division, with some likely attracted to the idea of an immediate ceasefire even if it comes with accepting Russia's demands.

"Putin's immediate goal is to create conditions that would compel Zelenskyy to step down and draw Ukraine into 'negotiations' that would destabilise the state, thereby coercing Kyiv to acquiesce to Russian demands in the future," added Ms Stanovaya.

"This strategy would relieve Russia of the need to continue military action and reduce the necessity for the West to arm Ukraine.

"At the same time, the 'proposal' is designed to sow discord in the West and appeal to those who desire immediate peace, encouraging support for the Russian 'proposal'."

The last operational trans-shipping point for Russian gas exports to Europe has reportedly been shelled by Ukraine.

According to Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of Russia's western Kursk region, Ukraine shelled several settlements including the key town of Sudzha.

Mr Smirnov made nomention of any damage to the gas infrastructure, though said two people were treated for injuries.

He also said a residential house was destroyed as a result of the shelling.

Russian gas supplies to Europe have plummeted since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The country supplied a total of about 63.8 billion cubicmetres (bcm) of gas to Europe by various routes in 2022,according to Gazprom data and Reuters calculations.

The volumedeclined by 55.6% to 28.3 bcm last year.

Russia has increasingly centralised their command and control of irregular forces, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces.

In February 2023, Russia established its Volunteer Corps, uniting over 20,000 volunteers, reservists, mercenaries and ex-convicts, who serve in numerous irregular units.

Since then, more irregular forces have been deployed in Ukraine, mainly as light infantry units which, according to the MoD, "lack integrated artillery or air support".

As a result of this, the MoD says Russia's irregular forces have likely sustained proportionally higher casualty rates than Russia's regular units over the last nine months.

Ukraine is planning record power imports today following significant infrastructure damage by Russian missile attacks, Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo said.

Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's energy sector have intensified since March, resulting in blackouts in many regions.

This has forced Kyiv to start large-scale electricity imports from the EU.

A ministry statement said the country would import 31,904 megawatt hours (MWh) of power today versus the previous record of 29,796 MWh on Wednesday.

We have been reporting today on comments made by Vladimir Putin at Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs meeting.

Now, John Foreman, who served as UK defence attache in Moscow from 2019 to 2022, has reminded people to keep the words issued by Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in 2022 in mind.

At the Munich Security Conference, Ms Kallas had explained Soviet negotiating tactics and noted it was important to "keep that in mind all the time".

She said if the West were to consider offering Russia something when it made demands then Moscow "would get something that [it] didn't have before".

Quoting Soviet-time foreign minister Andrei Gromyko, she noted that he had said negotiation tactics of the Soviet Union involved three things.

"First, demand the maximum," she said.

"Do not ask, but demand something that has never been yours.

"Second, present ultimatums.

"And third, do not give up one inch in negotiations because there will always be people in the West who will offer you something.

"And then in the end you will have one third or even half of something you didn't have before. So we have to keep that in mind all the time."

Vladimir Putin's ceasefire offer cannot be trusted, the Ukrainian president has said.

Speaking to our partner network Sky TG24, Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned the Russian president would not stop his offensive, even if his demands were met.

His comments on the sidelines of the G7 summit come after Mr Putin set out a list of requirements he wants Ukraine to meet before negotiations can begin.

These included Ukraine giving up its plans to join NATO and its troops withdrawing from the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.