Ukraine peace talks: What are Kyiv and Moscow’s demands?

KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine and Russia have for over two months held separate talks with the United States on how to end three years of war, which has killed thousands since Moscow invaded its neighbour in February 2022.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a three-day ceasefire starting May 8, while Kyiv asked “Why wait?” and demanded a month-long truce.

Washington has said that this week will be “critical” for peace efforts. Here are the official positions of both sides so far:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had agreed last month to an unconditional ceasefire proposed by the United States.

But Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whose troops had momentum on the battlefield, rejected that idea and instead set a string of conditions.

Moscow argued a truce would help Kyiv militarily, while Ukraine and its European allies accused Putin of not wanting peace.

Zelensky has called for a “total and unconditional ceasefire” as a  prerequisite for any negotiations.

“After a ceasefire, we are ready to sit down in any format,” including direct talks with Moscow, he said last week.

He said it would be a “great compromise” for Kyiv to talk to Russia, a country that “attacked and occupied” Ukraine, causing “tens of thousands” of deaths.

The Kremlin has said it was ready to negotiate with Kyiv, but has so far been reluctant to agree to a prolonged truce.

Moscow said this week that Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff had discussed the “possibility” of direct talks with Kyiv in the Kremlin.

It has also called for an end to Western arms deliveries to Kyiv.

Russia had announced an Easter truce but Ukraine said it was consistently violated.

Moscow has hit Ukraine with a series of deadly strikes this spring, killing dozens of people.

Kyiv recently spoke of a possible truce limiting strikes on civilian infrastructure, but Moscow was sceptical and accused Kyiv of hiding military targets in civilian areas.

Russia has repeatedly demanded to keep the territory in southern and eastern Ukraine that it occupies and for Kyiv to cede even more land.

Moscow in 2022 annexed four Ukrainian regions — the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — despite not having full control over them.

Since 2014, Russia has also had control of Crimea, after annexing it from Ukraine in a move deemed illegal and not recognised internationally.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that recognition of Moscow’s ownership of these territories was “imperative” for any negotiations.

Russia has also demanded that Ukraine be barred from joining the NATO military alliance and has repeatedly said it wanted the removal of Zelensky from office.

Russia had intended to topple Zelensky when it launched its invasion in 2022, but failed to take Kyiv and was pushed back by Ukrainian forces.

Putin last month called for Ukraine to be put under a UN-backed “temporary administration”, a move seen as refreshing his bid to remove Zelensky, whose legitimacy he has repeatedly questioned.

Kyiv has said it will not recognise its occupied territories, including Crimea, as Russian.

Zelensky has said Kyiv cannot “give away” Crimea but US leader Donald Trump said Sunday he believed the Ukrainian leader might concede the Black Sea peninsula as part of a settlement.

Kyiv had hoped to use territories it held onto in Russia’s Kursk region as a bargaining chip, but Moscow has in recent days announced that it has, with the help of North Korean troops, ousted Ukrainian forces from its border region.

It remains to be seen what territorial exchanges might still be possible. Moscow holds on to parts of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions — which it has not claimed to have annexed.

Zelensky is calling on his allies to provide “security guarantees” for Ukraine — which would deter Russia from invading again.

NATO membership would be Ukraine’s top priority in terms of security, but Kyiv has become frustrated with Western reluctance to accept it into the alliance.

Trump has also dismissed the possibility of Ukraine joining the bloc.

Ukraine has instead suggested the deployment of a Western military contingent in the country, with NATO support, to secure any ceasefire.

Putin orders unexpected three-day ceasefire in May

Several European countries have said they were ready to send peacekeeping troops — though not the United States as Kyiv wants — and Moscow has said it would not accept such a move.