Maria Ragutkina21:43, 22.04.25
European officials have warned that Putin could use the concession as bait for Trump.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin may be willing to halt an incursion along the current front line in Ukraine as part of efforts to reach a peace deal with US President Donald Trump, the Financial Times reported, citing three sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It is alleged that at a meeting in St. Petersburg, Putin told Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff that Moscow could abandon its claims to four partially occupied regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – if the US made broader geopolitical concessions to Moscow, such as recognizing control over Crimea and preventing Ukraine from joining NATO.
According to the publication, the editor of the pro-Kremlin Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Konstantin Remchukov, wrote in his column that Moscow may cease hostilities as soon as it expels Ukrainian troops from Kursk.
“When they liberate the last half percent (of Kursk Oblast – UNIAN), then the troops will be able to stop where they are now when this news reaches them. It is believed that Trump understands this thanks to Witkoff. And there is hope that all this will happen by April 30, so that he can proudly declare that he has fulfilled his peacekeeping mission in the first 100 days of his presidency,” the editor wrote.
The proposal is Putin’s first official indication in three years of war that Russia might back down from its maximalist demands, but European officials have warned that the Russian dictator could use the concession as bait to lure Trump into accepting Russia’s other demands and imposing them on Ukraine as a fait accompli.
“There is now strong pressure on Kyiv to give in, so that Trump can declare victory,” the source said.
Journalists noted that Trump’s proposals include the deployment of a European peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine, as well as a separate, non-NATO military force to monitor the ceasefire. These forces would work together with Ukrainian and Russian troops monitoring the ceasefire on opposite sides of the contact line.
According to the potential agreement, Ukraine will commit not to return the territory occupied by Russia by force, and the Russian Federation will agree to stop the slow advance of its army.
(C)UNIAN 2025
“Putin told Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff that Moscow could abandon its claims to four partially occupied regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia”
Your claims belong in the realm of fantasy. If the potato generals could take these Oblasts, they would have done by now. You are offering nothing in exchange for Crimea.
The military situation on the ground dictates what happens, not smelly sewer gasses from the mafiosi and childish fantasies.
Anyway the truth is now coming out. Those deals Trump is talking about is Trump tower in moscow. Ukraine is the least thing he is worried about.
“There is now strong pressure on Kyiv to give in, so that Trump can declare victory,” the source said.
Well maybe the Financial times should stick to economic matters. Zelensky has just been on air live and stated there is nothing to talk about regarding Crimea and its sovereignty.