On February 28, 2022, just four days after the onset of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces had already captured several Ukrainian cities along the coast of the Sea of Azov, advanced toward the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and were approaching the city of Mariupol, moving toward Kyiv.
As millions of people across the country sought shelter from relentless missile strikes and drone attacks, Ukrainian and Russian officials sat down for negotiations to end the war.
The delegations met at the border with Belarus, a key ally of Moscow, following a call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to his counterpart in Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko.
"We agreed that the Ukrainian delegation will meet with the Russian delegation without preconditions at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River," Zelensky stated. Kyiv called for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops. Moscow did not disclose its objectives for the negotiations. The presidents of both countries did not participate personally.
Three rounds of talks took place in Belarus before transitioning to an online format on March 14. By that time, Russian forces had taken control of cities around Kyiv and were reportedly committing atrocities against the populations of Hostomel, Irpin, and Bucha.
When the Russian troops were pushed out of the Kyiv region, harrowing photos and video evidence of Russian brutality in Ukraine emerged, complicating the early negotiations.
During a visit to Bucha in early April 2022, where the bodies of civilians had been discovered bound and shot at close range by Russian troops before their retreat, the Ukrainian president remarked: "This is real genocide, what you have seen here."
Nevertheless, as Kyiv began investigating war crimes, uncovering mass graves and Russian torture chambers for the first time, Zelensky asserted that peaceful negotiations with Moscow would continue, "because Ukraine needs peace."
"We are in Europe in the 21st century. We will continue diplomatic and military efforts," he said. Yet he acknowledged: "It's very hard to talk when you see what they have done here."
Ukraine Bans Negotiations with Putin
Months later, in September 2022, Russian forces illegally seized four regions of Ukraine - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, with Russian President Vladimir Putin declaring them as Russian territory.
In response, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine imposed a ban on direct negotiations with Putin, which remains in effect to this day.
In January of this year, Zelensky explained that the ban was enacted to stop separatism, as "the Russians were trying to exert pressure on Ukraine through numerous different corridors that Ukraine could not control."
"Regarding whether we can talk (to Putin) or not (and) the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, why did I sign this decree? Because Putin quickly began to create a large number of various channels, in cooperation with separatists and officials from other states, to influence Ukraine, our independence, and directly me," Zelensky clarified. "There were many discussions and many shadowy political corridors. I put an end to this quickly. I simply stopped separatism in our country by forbidding anyone - any political figures in Ukraine - from conducting negotiations with the Russian side, with Putin's supporters, during the war."
The decree states that the NSDC decided to "note the impossibility of conducting negotiations with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin."
However, it does not specify who exactly is prohibited from negotiating.
Zelensky emphasized that only he can conduct negotiations:
"I am the President of Ukraine; I conduct all negotiations, and I have forbidden everyone else."
According to him, Putin "does not like this because he has many channels."
Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized this decision and demanded its reconsideration.
Putin has used this argument to shift the blame onto Ukraine, claiming that Zelensky had no right to sign any peace agreements, referring to the decree by the Ukrainian president banning negotiations with the Russian leader in response to Moscow's annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
What about "Minsk-3"?
However, Zelensky and Putin have already met at the negotiation table. In December 2019, they were in Paris alongside the leaders of France and Germany.
The so-called "Normandy format" summit in the French capital aimed to find a way to end five years of hostilities in eastern Ukraine and to revive the Minsk peace process - a series of negotiations that resulted in two separate agreements intended to be legally binding.
In September 2014, in the Minsk Protocol (Minsk I), Russia committed to withdrawing illegal armed formations and military equipment from Ukrainian territory.
In the Minsk Agreement of February 2015 (Minsk II), there was a promise to withdraw all foreign armed forces and mercenaries under the supervision of the OSCE and to disarm illegal groups.
Russia did not fulfill these promises and instead launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years after the meeting between Zelensky and Putin in Paris.
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The President of Ukraine has repeatedly stated that Kyiv needs solid security guarantees, not "situational agreements."
He said: "I remember everything that happened as soon as I became president: there was the Minsk Agreement, there was the line of contact, and along it, people died every day. We will definitely not go for Minsk-3."