A demilitarized zone between 100 and 120 kilometers wide (62 to 75 miles) should be established along Russia’s border with Ukraine as part of any post-war settlement, an adviser to the president’s office said. Ukraine.
Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that the demilitarized zone should include the Russian regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk and Rostov in order to protect the neighboring territories of Ukraine.
“To ensure real security for the residents of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions and protect them from shelling, it is necessary to introduce a demilitarization zone of 100-120km,” Podolyak wrote in a tweet on Monday.
Such a zone, which cannot be used or occupied by military forces, would probably require “a mandatory international contingent control in the first stage”, said Podolyak.
A demilitarized zone should be an “important subject” in a post-war settlement, said the presidential adviser, who has 1.2 million followers on Twitter, adding that such a buffer “will prevent the return of future aggression”.
The main subject of the post-war settlement should be the establishment of safeguards to prevent future aggression. To ensure real security for residents of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions and protect them from shelling, it…
— Mykhailo Podolyak (@Podolyak_M) May 29, 2023
The International Committee of the Red Cross says there are detailed rules for creating and identifying demilitarized zones and the concept is not far from hospital zones and other areas considered neutral during conflicts. .
An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said on Monday that Ukraine has no interest in any ceasefire that locks in Russian territorial gains.
Chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva also pushed back against international peace initiatives from China, Brazil, the Vatican and South Africa, saying Moscow’s time for mediation had passed.
“In this time of open war, we don’t need mediators. it is too late for mediation,” he said. “There is no peace plan in Brazil, no peace plan in China, no peace plan in South Africa if you talk about the war in Ukraine,” Zhovkva said in an interview with the Reuters news agency.
Russia has said it is open to peace talks in Kyiv, which stalled months after the invasion. But Moscow also insisted that any talks would be based on “new facts”, which meant recognizing the annexation of five Ukrainian provinces that it fully or partially controls – a condition that would not be accepted. in Kyiv.
China has expressed a 12-point vision for peace, calling for a ceasefire but not condemning the invasion or forcing Russia to withdraw from occupied territories.
Beijing, which has close ties with the Russian leadership, sent top envoy Li Hui to Kyiv and Moscow this month to encourage peace talks.
Zhovkva said the envoy was briefed in detail on the situation on the battlefield, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the power grid and the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, which Kyiv says is a Russian war crime.
“He listens very well. There is no immediate answer … we will see. China is a smart country, which understands its role in international affairs,” said Zhovkva.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, DC, said on Monday that China’s foreign ministry denied a report by the Wall Street Journal newspaper that China’s special representative for the affairs of Eurasian urges European officials to try to end the war in Ukraine before it escalates or consider recognizing Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning denied the report, adding that Ukraine is now at a “critical point” and China will continue to work with all parties to resolve the crisis, the institute reports.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning denied a @WSJ report that #ChinaSpecial Representative for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui urged European officials to end the conflict #Ukraine before it gets bigger. https://t.co/yvUY7gYFDU https://t.co/jClvvEglgo
– ISW (@TheStudyofWar) May 30, 2023