““Most likely, Putin has revived this narrative, which has been largely dormant since early summer 2024, to reiterate that the Kremlin sees regime change in Kyiv as a necessary precondition for ‘negotiations’ with Ukraine.””, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“On December 16, Putin falsely stated that the Ukrainian Constitution only provides for the extension of the powers of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and does not extend the powers of the president under martial law. Ukraine’s constitution and national martial law stipulate that presidential, parliamentary and local elections cannot be held under martial law, and Ukraine has been under martial law since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. According to these provisions, Zelensky was obliged to suspend the elections in Ukraine in 2024, and he did it,” analysts say.
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ISW noted that Kremlin representatives are using a gross distortion of the Constitution and legislation of Ukraine to promote their claims, which is consistent “with Russia’s decades-long efforts to delegitimize the government and sovereignty of Ukraine.”
“Most likely, Putin has revived this narrative, which has been largely dormant since early summer 2024, to reiterate that the Kremlin sees regime change in Kyiv as a necessary precondition for ‘negotiations’ with Ukraine. ISW continues to believe that Russia is not interested in good-faith negotiations with Ukraine and will sit down at the negotiating table only when it feels that it has achieved maximum concessions on Ukraine’s sovereignty, in particular by removing the legitimate government of Ukraine and completely removing Ukrainian representatives from the conversation,” analysts emphasize. .
Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that peace talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine could begin this winter.
On December 16, US President-elect Donald Trump said he intends to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. After winning the elections, Trump already met with Zelensky, before that there was also a telephone conversation between the politicians.
According to the media, Trump held telephone talks with Putin (the Kremlin, however, denies this), but there was no personal meeting.
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