BAKU, August 19. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for settling the Ukrainian crisis remains valid, however, any negotiations between Moscow and Kiev are currently out of the question given the provocation by Ukrainian troops in the Kursk Region, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said.
"At this point, given this venture, we are not going to talk," the Kremlin official said, replying to a question by the Shot Telegram channel about the possibility of negotiations.
According to Ushakov, Putin’s proposals "have not been annulled but at the moment the negotiation process is completely inappropriate." The timeframe for any potential talks "depends on the situation, including on the battlefield," the presidential aide said.
During a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Foreign Ministry in July, the Russian head of state laid out his proposal for the final settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. Specifically, it stipulated Kiev’s neutral, non-nuclear and non-aligned status, its demilitarization and denazification, the lifting of Western sanctions against Russia as well as the recognition of the current territorial layout with Russia’s sovereignty over new regions which joined it following referendums.
A massive attack on the Kursk Region by the Ukrainian army was launched on August 6. A federal emergency situation regime has been declared in the region, as well as multiple air raid alerts. According to the latest data, 140 people, including 10 children, have been injured and hospitalized. Over 10,000 evacuees from the region’s borderline districts have been housed at temporary accommodation centers. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, since the onset of military actions in the Kursk area, the Kiev regime has lost over 3,460 troops, 50 tanks and 45 armored personnel carriers. The operation on clearing out Ukrainian armed formations continues.