On June 14, 2024, the day before the Switzerland peace summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented a proposal demanding Ukraine withdraw troops from the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts within their administrative borders. This announcement came as over ninety countries prepared to gather without Russian participation to discuss pathways toward ending the war.

Putin's territorial demands were particularly striking given that Russia doesn't fully control any of the four regions it illegally annexed. The Kremlin insisted Ukraine cede entire regions, including the city of Zaporizhzhia with a population of around three quarters of a million people that remains under Ukrainian control. Additionally, Moscow withdrew from Kherson city, the region's capital, in November 2022, yet demanded Ukraine surrender the entire administrative territory.

Beyond territorial concessions, Putin demanded Ukraine adopt neutral, non-aligned, nuclear-free status and undergo demilitarization. He also called for Ukraine to formally abandon NATO membership plans and for Western sanctions against Russia to be lifted. Putin characterized his proposal as seeking resolution, not merely a temporary truce.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called Putin's plan manipulative, absurd and designed to mislead the international community and undermine diplomatic efforts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew historical parallels, comparing Putin's demands to Hitler's territorial ultimatums regarding Czechoslovakia. Western officials similarly dismissed the proposal, with analysts noting it amounted to demanding Ukraine's capitulation rather than offering genuine peace terms. The conditions required Ukraine to surrender both occupied and unoccupied territories while accepting severe military limitations, effectively ending Ukrainian sovereignty and leaving millions vulnerable to Russian control.