(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was willing to halt his invasion of Ukraine across the current frontlines to reach a peace deal with President Trump.
If true, the position would mark a significant concession from Russia, which has maintained that any peace deal must include the recognition of the four Ukrainian Oblasts it has annexed as part of Russia, including territory that’s not under Russian control.
In response to a question about the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned against “fakes” but didn’t explicitly deny it. “There are a lot of fakes being published now, including by respected publications, so you should only listen to the original sources,” he said.
The Financial Times report said that Putin made the offer during recent talks with President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, in St. Petersburg earlier this month. After the meeting, Witkoff said he believed a peace deal was possible.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the US has made a proposal to Ukraine and its European allies on a potential ceasefire deal that would involve freezing the battle lines and the US recognizing Crimea as part of Russia. The peninsula has been under Russian control since 2014.
European and Ukrainian officials are expected to meet and discuss the US proposal on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine would never recognize Crimea as Russian, signaling he may not support the US proposal.
Zelensky also said that he would be willing to negotiate directly with Russia if a ceasefire was reached. His comments came after Putin suggested he was ready for direct talks with the Ukrainians.
The last time Russian and Ukrainian officials held direct peace talks was in the early days of the Russian invasion in 2022. At the time, Russia’s main demand was for Ukrainian neutrality. Those efforts were discouraged by the US, and later that year, Russia declared its annexation of four Ukrainian oblasts and added the recognition of that territory as Russia to its demands to end the war.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
