Ukraine has minimal chance of a more favorable agreement, says analyst Smetana. Why can't the West present a better plan?

The website glavcom.ua reports this, citing a press conference by the Kremlin chief.

According to Putin, the Ukrainian authorities made a mistake by not holding presidential elections."The president of Ukraine has lost his legitimate position. Russia is also in a state of armed conflict, but we held elections," Putin said.

According to Putin, “as soon as any peace agreements are concluded and the fighting stops, martial law must be immediately lifted. And when martial law is lifted, elections must be immediately declared.” Then a referendum must be held on all territorial issues – this is stipulated in the constitution, and then the referendum must be confirmed by the Constitutional Court, Putin said. He claims that Zelensky is not a legitimate president, since his term has ended and in time of war, according to him, only the Rada (parliament), not the president, can expand his powers. He would have to have this confirmed by the Constitutional Court, but the court avoided this issue, Putin said.

Pokrovsk does not surrender."We will not let the enemy go," the soldiers command and show fierce resistance

“The Constitutional Court is not working and the Chairman of the Supreme Court is in prison for corruption. Those who are involved in corruption, the most corrupt officials, have imprisoned the Chairman of the Supreme Court for corruption! Meanwhile, the term of office of the members of the Constitutional Court has ended and new members need to be elected,” Putin claims. “So, as soon as martial law is lifted, presidential elections must be held, a referendum must be held, a new Constitutional Court must be created – this is the beginning and the end, it will never end,” he added.

According to Putin, this means that concluding an agreement with Ukraine is legally impossible:"Let whoever can, whoever wants, negotiate on their behalf. We need our decisions to be internationally recognized by the main international players. That's all."

Russia officially describes the conflict against Ukraine exclusively as a "special military operation" (SVO). Moscow has not officially declared a full-scale state of war. In Russia, presidential elections were indeed held in March 2024. The international community criticized them as unfree and unfair.

The Ukrainian parliament confirmed the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this year. The legislature emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin was responsible for the impossibility of holding elections in the country. The impossibility of holding elections in Ukraine is directly stipulated by the Constitution of Ukraine and the state of martial law.

The holding of elections is also impossible from a practical point of view. This is due to the threat of bombing to voters and election commissions, and the fact that millions of Ukrainians are abroad as refugees or in territories occupied by Russia, the Center for European Political Analysis (CEPA) previously stated. In such conditions, it is impossible to ensure a free, secret and fair vote.

Putin also said that the subject of negotiations with the American side should be the recognition of Russian sovereignty over occupied Crimea and Donbas, which he said is"one of the key points". According to him, Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the territory they are currently defending and which the Russians consider their own."Then the fighting will stop. If they do not leave, we will achieve this by armed means," Putin said.

The territory of Crimea and parts of Donbas (including the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions) are recognized by the international community and the UN General Assembly as territories of Ukraine, temporarily occupied by Russia following the invasion and illegal annexations.

US hands over peace plan details to Russia

The US side has already handed over to Russia the details of the peace plan that the US and Ukrainian delegations agreed on at the talks in Geneva. This was confirmed on Friday by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to whom Russian officials will discuss it with the US President's envoy Steve Witkoff next week. TASR reports this based on a report by the TASS agency.

"Key details have been provided and discussions will take place next week in Moscow," he said. The exact date of Witkoff's visit to Moscow has not yet been set, Peskov said. However, he promised that the media would be informed about it in due time.

Witkoff was sent to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday. He said they would work together to resolve some remaining differences in a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner may also attend the meeting. He also said US negotiators were making progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine and Moscow had agreed to some concessions.