Putin willing to discuss ceasefire and freezing Ukraine frontline with Trump

Reuters reported the information, citing 5 current and former Russian officials.

They noted that Russia could “broadly agree” to freeze the conflict along the frontline. According to three anonymous sources, Russia is allegedly considering negotiations on the precise curve-up of four eastern regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

Russia may also be open to withdrawing troops from "relatively small patches of territory" it holds in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions, according to two officials.

In June, Putin outlined his initial conditions for "an immediate end to the war." Ukraine must abandon its NATO aspirations and withdraw all its troops from the four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia.

According to the sources, Russia is allegedly open to discussing security guarantees for Kyiv but "will not tolerate Ukraine joining NATO, or the presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil"

The statement mentioned that other concessions Ukraine may be pressured to make by the Kremlin include Kyiv agreeing to limit the size of its armed forces and committing not to restrict the use of the Russian language.

According to one source, Putin may present the ceasefire agreement to the Russian population as a victory, claiming that Russia retains most of the territories in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, which "ensured the defence of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine and safeguarded the landbridge to Crime."

At the same time, all of the outlet's sources noted that “the future of Crimea itself is not up for discussion.”

In response to a question about what a potential ceasefire might look like, two Russian officials referred to a draft agreement that was discussed in April 2022 following negotiations in Istanbul.

According to this draft, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Ukraine is reportedly supposed to agree to permanent neutrality in exchange for international security guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: the UK, China, France, Russia, and the U.S.

One of the Russian officials stated that there would be no agreement if Ukraine does not receive security guarantees, adding: "The question is how to avoid a deal that locks the West into a possible direct confrontation with Russia one day."

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has commented on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's statements about Ukraine-Russia talks, saying that in a weak position, the Ukrainian side has nothing to do in these negotiations.