Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine with US President-elect Donald Trump, but is unwilling to make serious territorial concessions and demands that Kyiv abandon its ambitions to join NATO, five sources familiar with the Kremlin's thinking told Reuters, UNN reports.
Details
As Reuters notes , Trump, who vowed to end the war quickly, returns to the White House at a time when Russia's position is strengthening. The Russian army is advancing at its fastest pace since the first days of the 2022 invasion.
In the first detailed report on what President Putin would agree to in any Trump-brokered deal, five current and former Russian officials said the Kremlin might generally agree to a "freeze" on the war on the front lines.
According to the three interlocutors, there may be an opportunity for negotiations on the exact division of the four eastern regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Although Moscow claims that these four regions are fully part of Russia and protected by the country's nuclear umbrella, its forces on the ground control 70-80% of the territory, and about 26,000 square kilometers are still held by Ukrainian troops.
According to the two officials, Russia may also be willing to retreat from relatively small areas of territory it holds in Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions, in northern and southern Ukraine.
Putin said this month that any ceasefire agreement must reflect "realities" on the ground, but he "fears a short-lived truce that would only allow the West to rearm Ukraine," Reuters reports.