In an announcement put out on Tuesday, Russian military officials stated their intent to “radically” lower the troop presence in and around Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, and Chernihiv, another city to the north, as the peace talks continue to make progress with Ukraine’s government.
“Given that the talks on the preparation of an agreement on the neutrality and non-nuclear status of Ukraine have moved into a practical field … a decision has been made to radically, by several times, reduce the military activity in the areas of Kyiv and Chernihiv,” stated Alexander Fomin, the Deputy Defense Minister, in a report from the New York Post.
Fox News also chimed in by stating that Russia’s government made the claim that the move was made specifically to “increase” trust between the warring nations:
Russia’s deputy defense minister told reporters on Tuesday that Moscow has decided to “fundamentally cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv” in order to “increase mutual trust for future negotiations to agree and sign a peace deal with Ukraine.” The Ukrainian government also recognized the withdrawal of certain units of armed forces of the Russian Federation from the territories of Kyiv and Chernihiv blasts, warning that “At the same time, there is a high risk of the Russian occupiers attacking military and civilian infrastructure.”
This past Tuesday, Russian and Ukrainian officials met face to face for the first time in almost three weeks in Istanbul, Turkey, in order to talk about options that could lead to peace.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lauded the choice and welcomed the progressing peace talking between the warring countries.
“We believe that there will be no losers in a just peace. Prolonging the conflict is not in anyone’s interest,” stated Erdogan, as he welcomed the two delegations that were seated at a long table on opposite sides.
Head of the Ukrainian delegation David Arakhamia (R), an MP chairing President Volodymyr Zelensky's party in the parliament, meets in Istanbul with the head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky, aide to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
📷: President's Office pic.twitter.com/CDQoOQCZdr
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 29, 2022
Fox News went on to add that Mykhailo Podolyak, the Ukrainian presidential adviser, told the media on Tuesday that “intensive consultations are underway right now on some important issues, the most important of which is agreement on international security guarantees for Ukraine, because with this agreement we will be able to end the war as Ukraine needs.”
In the same vein, “Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said ‘We are not trading people, land or sovereignty,'” Fox stated in its report.
“The minimum program will be humanitarian questions, and the maximum program is reaching an agreement on a ceasefire,” claimed Kuleba.
Reuters put forth a release detailing the various Ukrainian proposals:
Ukrainian negotiators said that under their proposals, Kyiv would agree not to join alliances or host bases of foreign troops, but would have its security guaranteed in terms similar to “Article 5”, the collective defence clause of NATO.
They identified Israel and NATO members Canada, Poland and Turkey as countries that could help provide such guarantees. Russia, the United States, Britain, Germany and Italy could also provide guarantees.
The proposals would include a 15-year consultation period on the status of Russian-annexed Crimea, and could come into force only in the event of a complete ceasefire, the negotiators said.
The fate of the southeastern Donbas region, which Russia demands Ukraine cede to separatists, would be set aside to be discussed by the Ukrainian and Russian leaders, they added. Any peace deal would require a referendum in Ukraine.
As stated by Ukrainian negotiator Oleksander Chaly, “If we manage to consolidate these key provisions … then Ukraine will be in a position to actually fix its current status as a non-bloc and non-nuclear state in the form of permanent neutrality.”
“We will not host foreign military bases on our territory, as well as deploy military contingents on our territory, and we will not enter into military-political alliances,” he concluded.