Russia would give up tiny occupied ukraine pockets and kyiv would give in the expanses of its eastern land that Moscow could not capture, under the peace proposals discussed by Russia Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at their Alaska summit, according to informed sources of Moscow’s thought.
The story appeared the day after the end of Trump and Putin in a base of the Airforce in Alaska, the first meeting between an American president and the chief of the Kremlin since before the start of the Ukrainian conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to go to Washington on Monday to discuss with Trump a possible large -scale war regulations, which Putin launched in February 2022.
Although the summit failed to get the ceasefire he said he wanted, Trump said in an interview with Fox News Sean Hannity that he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine and had “largely agreed”.
“I think we are quite close to an agreement,” he said, adding: “Ukraine must accept. Maybe they will say” no “.”
The two sources, which asked anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, said that their knowledge of Putin’s proposals was mainly based on discussions between leaders in Europe, the United States and Ukraine, and noted that it was not over.
Trump informed Zelenskiy and European leaders during his discussions at the top early Saturday.
Read: Trump said to Zelenskiy after the summit that Putin wanted more Ukraine, said source
It was not immediately clear if Putin’s proposals were an opening gambit to serve as a starting point for negotiations or more as a final offer that was not subject to a discussion.
Ukrainian land for peace
To its nominal value, at least some of the requests would have enormous challenges so that Ukraine’s leadership accepts.
Putin’s offer excluded a ceasefire until a full agreement is concluded, blocking a key demand from Zelenskiy, whose country is affected daily by Russian drones and ballistic missiles.
Under the proposed Russian agreement, kyiv would fully retire from the regions of Donetk and Luhansk Eastern in exchange for a Russian commitment to freeze the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the sources said.
Ukraine has already rejected any retreat from Ukrainian land such as the Donetsk region, where its troops are dug and which, according to kyiv, serves as a crucial defensive structure to prevent Russian attacks more deeply in its territory.
Russia would be ready to return relatively small areas of Ukrainian lands which it occupied in the northern and northeastern regions of Kharkiv, the sources said.
Russia holds pockets from the Sumy and Kharkiv regions which total approximately 440 square km, according to the map of the battle of the battle of Deep State of Ukraine. Ukraine controls approximately 6,600 square km of Donbas which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and is claimed by Russia.
Although the Americans did not express this, the sources said that they knew that the chief of Russia was also looking for – at the very least – the formal recognition of Russian sovereignty on Crimea, which Moscow seized Ukraine in 2014.
It was not clear if it meant recognition of the American government or, for example, all Western powers and Ukraine. Kyiv and his European allies reject formal recognition of Moscow’s domination in the peninsula.
They said Putin would also expect at least part of the range of sanctions against Russia. However, they could not say if it applied to us as well as European sanctions.
Find out more: Zelenskiy to visit Washington after Trump-Putin speaks gave no results on Ukraine
Trump said on Friday that he did not immediately need to consider reprisals on countries like China for the purchase of Russian oil – which is subject to a range of Western sanctions – but may have “in two or three weeks”.
Ukraine would also be prevented from joining the NATO military alliance, although Putin seems to be open to Ukraine receiving a kind of security guarantee, according to sources.
However, they added that it was not clear what it meant in practice. European leaders said Trump had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine during their conversation on Saturday and also addressed an idea for a “article 5” style guarantee outside the NATO military alliance.
NATO considers that any attack has been launched on one of its 32 members as an attack against all within the framework of its clause of article 5.
Joining the Atlantic Alliance is a strategic objective for Kyiv which is listed in the constitution of the country.
Russia would also require the official status of the Russian language in certain parts of the Orthodox Church or on the other side of Ukraine, as well as the law of the Russian Orthodox Church to operate freely, the sources said.
The Ukraine security agency accuses the church linked to Moscow to the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine by distributing pro-Russian propaganda and housing spies, something refused by the Church which says that it cut the canonical links with Moscow.
Ukraine has adopted a law prohibiting religious organizations linked to Russia, of which it considers the Church as one. However, he has not yet started to apply the ban.
