Ukraine’s Foreign Minister outlines the country’s red lines ahead of eventual peace talks. Putin is unlikely to abandon demands for Ukrainian territorial concessions beyond the current frontlines even after a ceasefire, ISW says. The U.S. is withdrawing from an international group investigating Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine. Ukraine has fired the new Long Neptune missile at Russia, Forbes says.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister outlines country’s red lines ahead of eventual peace talks
Ukraine has fundamental issues that it will hold on to in peace talks and that are not a subject for compromise, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha said in an interview with RBC Ukraine on Monday.
When asked about the country’s red lines in any eventual peace talks, he said: “I don’t like this definition. There are fundamental issues that are not a subject for discussion and that cannot be touched. The first one is Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Ukraine will never accept that its occupied territories [belong to Russia]. Second, no country can veto the choice of the Ukrainian people or Ukraine’s decision to join any alliances, be it the European Union or NATO.”
Third, Ukraine would not accept any limits on its defensive potential or on the might of its army, Sybiha said, adding that Ukraine’s partners are aware of these fundamentals.
“Russia must be held to account. These are all elements of a comprehensive peace as they are detailed in our ‘peace formula’. They reflect the approaches that define our position on the international arena. The fundamental issues that are a matter of principle for us are: ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine’ and ‘nothing about Europe without Europe’. And that’s where we also have support,” Sybiha said.
Putin unlikely to abandon demands for Ukrainian territorial concessions beyond current frontlines even after ceasefire, ISW says
Putin and Kremlin officials have been regularly broadcasting their demands for Ukrainian territorial and security concessions beyond the current frontlines to the Russian people, underscoring how unlikely Putin is to abandon his ambitions in Ukraine even after a ceasefire, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a report on Sunday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the report.
Russian officials maintain their maximalist territorial claims over all occupied Ukraine and significant parts of unoccupied Ukraine, however. Senior Kremlin officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, have consistently demanded that Ukraine surrender the entirety of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts, including areas that Russian forces do not already occupy, and have reiterated these claims in recent weeks.
Putin recently claimed that “Novorossiya” is an integral part of Russia, and Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov defined “Novorossiya” as all of eastern and southern Ukraine including Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and Mykolaiv oblasts.
Russia currently occupies a small portion of Kharkiv Oblast and the Kinburn Spit in Mykolaiv Oblast, and Russian forces are advancing towards the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast administrative border.
Continued Kremlin statements demanding that Ukraine cede unoccupied Ukrainian territory indicate that the Kremlin and Putin remain committed to these territorial goals despite ongoing negotiations.
Russian officials have given no public indications that they are willing to make concessions on their territorial or security demands of Ukraine.
Accepting Western-backed security guarantees for Ukraine would be a significant concession for Putin. Putin has repeatedly called for Ukraine to permanently abandon its goals of joining NATO or any security bloc and to reject future offers of foreign military assistance.
Russian officials also appear to be generating increased support for their demands in Russian society despite the costs of Russia’s protracted war effort, and Putin likely remains committed to securing a return for Russia’s investment in the war he regards as sufficient.
U.S. to withdraw from international group investigating Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine
The [U.S.] Justice Department has informed European officials that the United States is withdrawing from a multinational group created to investigate leaders responsible for the invasion of Ukraine, including President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, according to a letter sent to members of the organization on Monday, The New York Times said. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article.
The decision to withdraw from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, which the Biden administration joined in 2023, is the latest indication of the Trump administration’s move away from President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s commitment to holding Mr. Putin personally accountable for crimes committed against Ukrainians.
The group [which is part of Eurojust] was created to hold the leadership of Russia, along with its allies in Belarus, North Korea and Iran, accountable for a category of crimes — defined as aggression under international law and treaties that violates another country’s sovereignty and is not initiated in self-defense.
The United States was the only country outside Europe to send a senior prosecutor to The Hague to work with investigators from Ukraine, the Baltic States, Poland, Romania and the International Criminal Court.
[In November 2023, the U.S. announced it will provide USD one million to the group.]The Trump administration is also reducing work done by the department’s War Crimes Accountability Team, created in 2022 by the attorney general at the time, Merrick B. Garland, and staffed by experienced prosecutors. It was intended to coordinate Justice Department efforts to hold Russians accountable who are responsible for atrocities committed in the aftermath of the full invasion three years ago.
The team did bring one significant case. In December 2023, U.S. prosecutors used a war crimes statute for the first time since it was enacted nearly three decades ago to charge four Russian soldiers in absentia with torturing an American who was living in the Kherson region of Ukraine.
Ukraine has fired new Long Neptune missile at Russia, Forbes says
Ukraine has a new 600-mile cruise missile, the Long Neptune, and has fired it at Russia, Forbes said on Saturday.
The successful deployment of Long Neptune [President] Zelenskyi referred to was apparently the March 14 strike on the oil refinery in Tuapse, in Russia around 300 miles from the front line in Ukraine. That Tuapse attack was just the latest in a chain of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities that depressed production by around 10% last year, the article reads.
“We have significant results,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced Saturday. “Long Neptune has been tested and successfully used in combat. A new Ukrainian missile, an accurate strike. The range is a thousand kilometers.”
In December 2023, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister at the time, Lieutenant General Ivan Havrylyuk, said Ukraine was developing a long-range version of the Neptune missile.
The long-range Neptune is made by manufacturer Luch Design Bureau. The weapon was originally designed as an anti-ship missile but has been adapted during the war to hit land targets.