Vladimir Putin is open to discussing a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine with Donald Trump, but rules out making major territorial concessions and insists that Kiev abandon ambitions to join NATO, five sources with knowledge of the Kremlin’s thinking told Reuters.
US President-elect Trump, who promised to quickly end the conflict, is returning to the White House at a time of Russian ascendancy. Moscow controls a part of Ukraine roughly the size of the US state of Virginia and is advancing at the fastest pace since the early days of the 2022 invasion.
In the first detailed report on what President Putin would accept in any deal brokered by Trump, the five current and former Russian officials said the Kremlin could broadly agree to freeze the conflict along the front lines.
Continues after advertising
Also read:
There may be room for negotiation over the precise division of the four eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to three of the people who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Although Moscow claims that the four regions are fully part of Russia, defended by the country’s nuclear umbrella, its forces on the ground control 70% to 80% of the territory, with around 26,000 km² still held by Ukrainian troops.
Continues after advertising
Russia may also be willing to withdraw from the relatively small parts of territory it holds in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions of northern and southern Ukraine, two of the officials said.
Putin said this month that any ceasefire agreement must reflect “realities” on the ground, but that he feared a short-lived truce that would only allow the West to rearm Ukraine.
“If there is no neutrality, it is difficult to imagine the existence of good-neighborly relations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin told the Valdai discussion group on November 7.
“Because that would mean that Ukraine would be constantly used as a tool in the wrong hands and to the detriment of the interests of the Russian Federation.”
Continues after advertising
Two of the sources said outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to fire American ATACMS missiles toward Russia could complicate and delay any deal — and toughen Moscow’s demands as the line hard pushes for a larger part of Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Kiev used the missiles to attack Russian territory for the first time, according to Moscow, which considered the action a major escalation.
If there is no agreement on a ceasefire, the two sources said, Russia will continue fighting.”
Also read:
Continues after advertising
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, told Reuters of the new US president: “He is the only person who can bring both sides together to negotiate peace and work to end the war and stop the killing.”
Real estate billionaire Trump, author of the book “Trump: the Art of the Deal,” said he would speak directly to Putin in his efforts to forge a peace deal, although he did not give details on how he might reconcile the warring sides. which show few signs of retreat.
Continues after advertising
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said his country will not rest until any and all Russian soldiers are expelled from its territory — based on borders gained after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 — even though top U.S. generals have publicly said that That’s a very ambitious goal.
FREE ACCESS
BONDS PORTFOLIO
