Putin's uncompromising demands emerge after the latest round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks

Russia took weeks to present Ukraine with a “memorandum” setting out its conditions for a ceasefire, as well as key guidelines for a comprehensive treaty to end the more than 3-year-old war. To practically no one’s surprise, it’s a list of the Kremlin’s longstanding, maximalist demands that Kyiv and its Western allies see as nonstarters.

Ukraine had set its negotiating stance before Monday’s direct peace talks in Istanbul, emphasizing its readiness to declare a 30-day ceasefire immediately without preconditions that was proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Kyiv reaffirmed its refusal to abandon a bid for NATO membership and rejected acknowledgment of Russia's annexation of any of its regions.

Both sides have established mutually exclusive red lines that make any quick deal unlikely.

Moscow's demands, published in the Russian media, make it clear that President Vladimir Putin is determined to ensure the fulfillment of the goals in Ukraine he set when he launched the invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

Key points of the Russian and Ukrainian documents:

Russia offered Ukraine a choice of two options for establishing a 30-day ceasefire.

One option is that Ukraine must withdraw its forces from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — the four regions Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured.

The second option, described by Moscow as the “package” proposal, presses Ukraine to halt its mobilization efforts and freeze Western arms deliveries — conditions that were suggested earlier by Putin.

On top of that, the document also demands that Ukraine begin demobilizing its military, halt any redeployment of forces and ban the presence of any third-country forces on its soil.

The “package” option further proposes that Ukraine end martial law and hold elections, after which the two countries could sign a comprehensive peace treaty.

The Russian document declares that conditions for peace must include the “international legal recognition” of Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its 2022 annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

It says a future peace treaty should have Ukraine declare its neutral status between Russia and the West, and abandon its bid to join NATO. The document demands that Ukraine limit the size of its armed forces, recognize Russian as an official language on par with Ukrainian, ban “glorification and propaganda of Nazism and neo-Nazism” and dissolve nationalist groups -– conditions reflecting Putin’s goals from the outset of his invasion.

The false allegations that neo-Nazi groups were shaping Ukraine’s politics under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, have been vehemently dismissed by Kyiv and its Western allies.

In Russia’s view, a comprehensive peace treaty should also see both countries lift all sanctions and restrictions, abandon any claims to compensation for wartime damage, resume trade and communications, and reestablish diplomatic ties. It also suggests that the peace treaty between Russian and Ukraine be endorsed by a resolution of the U.N. Security Council.

The memorandum that Ukraine submitted to Moscow before the talks and shared with its allies emphasized the need for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to set stage for peace negotiations.

It reaffirmed Ukraine's consistent rejection of Russian demands for neutral status as an attack on its sovereignty, declaring it is free to choose its alliances and adding that its NATO membership will depend on consensus with the alliance.

It emphasized Kyiv's rejection of any restrictions on the size and other parameters of its armed forces, as well as curbs on the presence of foreign troops on its soil.

Ukraine's memorandum also opposed recognizing any Russian territorial gains, while describing the current line of contact as a starting point in negotiations.

The document noted the need for international security guarantees to ensure the implementation of peace agreements and prevent further aggression.

The Ukrainian peace proposal also demanded the return of all deported and illegally displaced Ukrainian children and an “all-for-all” prisoner exchange.

It held the door open to gradual lifting of some of the sanctions against Russia if it abides by the agreement.

The sharply conflicting demands leave little hope for any quick progress in talks.

By maintaining its maximalist demands, Moscow is seemingly unfazed by repeated threats of sanctions by the West or other pressure to make real concessions.

Some observers see the Russian memorandum as a way by Moscow to formalize its negotiation position.

“Even an unsigned document gives the Kremlin a firmer diplomatic foothold,” said Moscow-based defense analyst Sergei Poletaev.

Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center noted that the document reflects Putin’s key goal of securing a “friendly” Ukraine without a full-fledged military or ties of any kind with its Western allies.

She noted the Russian document offers Ukraine a choice between the two options because Moscow knows that a Ukrainian withdrawal from the four regions "is not viable and seeks to push Kyiv toward the second as the primary course.” At the same time, Moscow’s memorandum appears to indicate that “Russia is open to considering leaving parts of the annexed regions that it does not control to Ukraine.”

Stanovaya said Moscow’s maximalist demands mean that “the fighting is set to continue, even if bilateral interactions persist.”

FILE - Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov speaks to the media at the Ciragan Palace following the Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)

FILE - In this photo provided by Ukraine's 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense press service, soldiers fire toward Russian army positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Monday, June 2, 2025. (Anatolii Lysianskyi/Ukraine's 127th Separate Brigade via AP, File)

FILE - Vladimir Medinsky, center, head of the Russian delegation, speaks to the media at the Ciragan Palace following the Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)

FILE - Soldiers of Ukraine's 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade fire a rocket toward Russian positions at the front line in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)