Vladimir putin proposed halting the invasion of Ukraine along the front line as part of efforts to reach a peace agreement with US President Donald Trump. This was reported by the Financial Times, citing sources.
According to the sources, the russian president told Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, during a meeting in St. Petersburg earlier this month, that moscow might abandon its claims to the non-occupied parts of four Ukrainian oblasts.
FT notes that this proposal is the first official hint from putin since the start of the war that russia may retreat from its maximalist demands for ending the invasion.
"But European officials aware of the US efforts to end the war warn that putin is likely using this apparent concession as bait to lure Trump into accepting other russian demands and impose them on Ukraine as a fait accompli", - the publication writes.
"Kyiv is now under intense pressure to make concessions so that Trump can declare a victory", - one of FT’s sources said.
The representative of the russian dictator, Dmitry Peskov, told the publication that "it is difficult to expect immediate results, and the work cannot be conducted publicly".