Putin’s demands to halt Western support for Ukraine unacceptable – Pistorius

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is "playing games" with Ukraine by demanding an end to Western military and intelligence support, but this condition is unacceptable.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated this, according to The Guardian.

"We see that attacks on civilian infrastructure have not abated at all on the first night after this supposedly groundbreaking, wonderful phone call between Putin and US President Donald Trump," Pistorius said in a television interview quoted by AFP.

The minister also called "unacceptable" the Kremlin's insistence that a "key condition" for peace should be a complete cessation of Western military and intelligence support for the Ukrainian armed forces.

"This is very transparent," Pistorius said.

The head of the German defense ministry noted that Putin seeks to prevent supporters of Kyiv from "continuing to support Ukraine and to allow it to really defend itself if there is a new attack, during or after the ceasefire."

For reference: 

On March 18, Trump and Putin had a telephone conversation. The leaders called after 4 p.m. Kyiv time. The dialogue lasted more than 2.5 hours.

In particular, following the negotiations, it became known that Putin rejected Trump's proposal for an unconditional, complete ceasefire. Instead, the dictator agreed to stop only strikes on energy infrastructure facilities.

In the context of introducing a 30-day ceasefire, the key Russian demand is a complete cessation of foreign military assistance and providing intelligence information to Ukraine.

At the same time, the head of the Russian Federation announced that on March 19, a prisoner exchange would be held between the Russian and Ukrainian sides according to the "175 for 175" scheme. Russia will also return 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian service members to Ukraine.

Also, US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed during a telephone conversation that peace talks on the Russian-Ukrainian war should "begin immediately in the Middle East."

It is worth adding that Trump denied the Kremlin's version of his conversation with Putin about stopping assistance to Ukraine; he did not discuss it.

It is worth adding that on March 11, Ukraine and the United States of America held an official meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. During the negotiations, the parties agreed on several issues, as stated in a joint statement following the meeting: in particular, the United States canceled the pause in the exchange of intelligence and resumed security assistance.