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Russia has told Ukraine it will halt its invasion “in a moment” if Kyiv agrees to give up three key regions, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson said Monday.
Moscow is demanding Ukraine cease military action, acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory and recognize the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine was aware of their demands.
“They were told that all this can be stopped in a moment,” Peskov told Reuters in a phone interview.
“We really are finishing the demilitarization of Ukraine. We will finish it. But the main thing is that Ukraine ceases its military action. They should stop their military action and then no one will shoot.”
The Ukrainian side did not immediately react to Russia’s ultimatums.
The demands come 12 days after Putin ordered his troops to attack Ukraine from the north, east and south.
The deadly invasion, which provoked outrage across the world and led to heavy sanctions on Moscow, has already heavily pounded cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Get the latest updates in the Russia-Ukraine conflict with The Post’s live coverage.
Peskov claimed Russia wasn’t trying to make any further territorial claims on Ukraine with its invasion — and insisted it was “not true” that Moscow was demanding Kyiv be handed over.
Speaking about the issue of neutrality, Peskov said: “They should make amendments to the constitution according to which Ukraine would reject any aims to enter any bloc.”
He added: “We have also spoken about how they should recognize that Crimea is Russian territory and that they need to recognize that Donetsk and Lugansk are independent states. And that’s it. It will stop in a moment.”
It comes as Russian and Ukrainian delegations were preparing to meet on Monday for a third round of peace talks.
The demands also came as Russian forces suffered a defeat after Ukrainian troops retook control of the northeastern town of Chuhuiv, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych revealed Monday.
Chuhuiv was among the first places to report shelling in Russia’s invasion.
With Post wires
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