Russia would give up small pockets of occupied Ukraine and Kiev would hand over vast swaths of land in the east that Moscow has been unable to seize, under peace proposals discussed by Russia's Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at their summit in Alaska, sources familiar with Moscow's thinking said.
This came a day after Trump and Putin met at an air base in Alaska, the first meeting between a US president and the Kremlin leader since before the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to travel to Washington on Monday to discuss with Trump a possible resolution to the full-scale war, which Putin launched in February 2022.
Although the meeting failed to secure the ceasefire that Trump said he had desired, he stated in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that he and Putin had discussed territorial transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and that they had "agreed to a large extent."
"I think we are quite close to an agreement," he said, adding: "Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they will say 'no'."
The two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their knowledge of Putin's proposals was based largely on discussions between leaders in Europe, the US and Ukraine, and stressed that they were incomplete.
Trump briefed Zelensky and European leaders on his discussions at the meeting early Saturday.
It was not immediately clear whether Putin's proposals were an opening move to serve as a starting point for negotiations or more of a final offer that was not subject to discussion.
At first glance, at least some of the demands would present major challenges for the Ukrainian leadership to accept.
Putin's offer ruled out a ceasefire until a comprehensive agreement was reached, blocking a key demand of Zelensky, whose country is hit daily by Russian drones and ballistic missiles.
Under the proposed Russian deal, Kiev would fully withdraw from the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in exchange for a Russian pledge to freeze the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia, the sources said.
Ukraine has already rejected any withdrawal from Ukrainian lands such as the Donetsk region, where its troops are fortified and which Kiev says serves as an essential defensive structure to prevent deeper Russian attacks on its territory.
Lini një Përgjigje