Certainly! Here’s a rewritten version of the article:
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Ukraine has every legal right to defend itself and uphold its territorial integrity, emphasized Ukrainian official Oleksandr Tykhyi. “This is not just a list of demands — it’s Ukraine’s right under international law,” he said. “Russia, as the aggressor, has no authority to impose terms on Ukraine. There should be no false equivalency between the attacker and the country under attack.”
Tykhyi’s remarks come in response to recent statements made by Richard Witkoff, a U.S. envoy who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 11. Witkoff claimed that Moscow is seeking a permanent peace agreement that would include Russia retaining control over “five territories of Ukraine.” He did not specify which areas were included in that proposal.
Reuters has reported that Witkoff appeared to align himself with Moscow’s demands during discussions with former U.S. President Donald Trump. However, POLITICO was unable to verify those claims independently.
Russia continues to assert sovereignty over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it illegally occupied and annexed in 2014. In 2022, Moscow staged widely condemned referendums in four additional regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia — before announcing their annexation. Despite these claims, Russia does not fully control all of those areas.
Since mid-2023, President Putin has insisted that Ukraine fully withdraw from these four regions. His demand notably includes cities such as Zaporizhzhia — which was never Russian-occupied — and Kherson, where Ukrainian forces reclaimed control in the fall of 2022 to the cheers of local residents.
While Kyiv recognizes that recapturing these territories by military force may not be immediately feasible, Ukrainian officials remain committed to achieving that through diplomatic efforts and sustained international pressure on Russia.
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