Putin offered the US to freeze the war in Ukraine through intermediaries. Washington rejected the proposal - Reuters
Kyiv • UNN
Putin proposed a "ceasefire" in Ukraine to freeze the war, but contacts with the United States ended in nothing. The source said that the Americans did not want to put pressure on Ukraine.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has proposed a "ceasefire in Ukraine" to freeze the war, and the United States has rejected it after contacts between mediators. This was reported by three Russian sources familiar with the discussions to Reuters, UNN reports.
According to media reports, the failure of Putin's approach ushers in the third year of Europe's most massive conflict since World War II and shows how far apart the world's two largest nuclear powers remain.
A U.S. source denied any official contacts and said that Washington would not participate in the talks without Ukraine's participation.
"In 2023, Putin publicly and privately through intermediaries, including Moscow's Arab partners in the Middle East and others, sent signals to Washington that he was ready to consider a ceasefire in Ukraine," the media outlet quoted Russian sources as saying.
Reuters writes that Putin was offering to freeze the conflict at current levels and was unwilling to cede Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory, but the signal offered what some in the Kremlin saw as "the best path to some kind of peace.
"Contacts with the Americans ended in nothing," a senior Russian source with knowledge of the discussions in late 2023 and early 2024 told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
A second Russian source familiar with the contacts told Reuters that the Americans told Moscow through intermediaries that they would not discuss a possible ceasefire without Ukraine's participation, so the contacts ended in failure.
A third source with knowledge of the discussions said: "Everything fell apart with the Americans." The source said that the Americans did not want to put pressure on Ukraine.
According to media reports, the extent of the contacts and their failure had not been previously reported.
"This comes as US President Joe Biden has been pushing for months for Congress to approve increased aid to Ukraine, but has faced opposition from allies of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump," the report said.
