'Accept our terms or face total surrender': Russia gives ultimatum to Ukraine

Russia has issued an ultimatum to Ukraine: either accept President Vladimir Putin’s terms or be ready for full surrender.

The ultimatum has come at a time when Russia has increased the pace of its offensive against Ukraine and the world is distracted by the ongoing war between Israel and Iran. Even as Ukraine has scored many substantial hits inside Russia in recent weeks, including the drone attack on June 1 in which it took down a third of Russian long-range bomber and surveillance fleets, Russia advance has picked up pace on the ground.

Amid such circumstances, Andrei Kelin, the Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, told CNN that Ukraine could either surrender now or “we will continue this drive and Ukraine will have to surrender under much worse conditions”.

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Kelin said, “We are now on the offensive and Ukraine is in retreat. In May alone, we took about 600 square kilometers (230 square miles) of Ukrainian territory and we continue to gain more ground. For Ukraine, there is a choice: either they will take our conditions right now, a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive settlement of the situation, or we will continue this drive and Ukraine will have to surrender under much worse conditions."

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In the direct talks in Turkey, Russia had conveyed Putin’s maximalist demands to Ukraine. If implemented, the demands would end the Ukrainian nation as generations have known it. The demands understandably have few takers in Ukraine.

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Putin seeks Ukraine’s surrender, not peace

With his maximalist demands conveyed in Turkey, Putin made it clear that he is seeking Ukraine’s subjugation, not a peace deal.

Putin has not just sought the recognition of Ukrainian territories that Russia has occupied since 2014, but has also sought Ukraine’s surrender of all territories it claims but not currently occupies. In provisions similar to those imposed on defeated Germany after the World War I in the Treaty of Versailles, he has also sought restrictions on the size, deployment, and equipment of the post-war Ukrainian military.

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In addition to complete occupation of five Ukrainian provinces (Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia) even beyond what Russia currently occupies, Putin has also sought the creation of a buffer zone of an unspecified length on the Ukrainian side of the new border. The buffer zone would essentially further reduce Ukraine’s territory.

In what break change the character of the Ukrainian nation, Putin has sought to insert the Russian language into formal business, restore the pro-Russia Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and ban so-called Ukrainian “nationalist formations”.