Putin asks Ukraine to surrender to negotiate

While his troops have blocked Kyiv from the west and are just a few kilometres from the city, Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the Ukrainian Army to depose the current authorities and replace them with a new regime with which they can negotiate. His proposal has been rejected by President Zelenskyy who has asked his people not to surrender.

The government of the president of the United States, Joe Biden, has warned Congress that Kyiv could quickly fall into Russian hands.

Putin urged the Ukrainian military on Friday to carry out a coup against the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to take power and assured that with them “it will be easier to reach an agreement” to end the Russian military operation started this Thursday.

Hours earlier, Zelenskyy had asked Putin to sit at the negotiating table. The response of the Russian Government has not been long in coming and he has asked Kyiv that they must first surrender.

At the close of this edition, the Ukrainian government denied that it refuses to sit at the negotiating table with Russia.

“I must refute the accusations that we have refused to negotiate. Ukraine has been and remains ready to talk about a ceasefire and peace,” said Sergii Nykyforov, spokesman for President Zelensky.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that Ukraine is avoiding sitting at the negotiating table after Moscow accepted Kyiv’s proposal and suggested Minsk, the Belarusian capital, as the venue for the talks.

According to Peskov, Ukraine proposed Warsaw as an alternative location for dialogue after which it “took a pause” and “broke off communication”.

Zelenskyy declared on Thursday night that he was willing to discuss his country’s neutrality in exchange for guarantees for Ukraine. Russia’s main security demands related to Ukraine refer to its demilitarization and that the neighbouring country never join NATO.

From the Russian Foreign Ministry, they pointed out, in turn, that the possible negotiations with Kyiv would not necessarily mean the end of the military intervention, whose objective is the “demilitarization”, “denazification” and the submission of Ukraine.

Veto at the UN

Russia vetoed this Friday at the UN Security Council a resolution proposed by the United States to condemn its invasion of Ukraine and demand the departure of Moscow’s troops from the neighbouring country.

The text, co-sponsored by dozens of countries around the world, obtained the support of eleven of the fifteen members of the Security Council, three abstentions – including China – and a single vote against, from Russia.

For its part, the United States on Friday urged China to abandon “ambiguity” and stop “hiding” so as not to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and asked for its help to mitigate the impact of the war on global markets.

At the close, the Washington Post reported that Zelenskyy rejected President Biden’s proposal to evacuate him to the US in an emergency, given the danger to his life.