United States President Donald Trump said Territorial Concessions of Ukraine and the control of the Zaporizehzia Nuclear Plant should be prominent guidelines in negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump will talk on Tuesday (18).
“We want to see if we can end this war,” Trump told reporters on the US presidential plane during a Florida flight to Washington. “Maybe we may, maybe not, but I think we have a very good chance.”
“We will talk about territories. We’ll talk about power plants… We’re already talking about it, the division of certain assets, ”he added, after being asked which concessions were being considered in the negotiations.
Trump did not give details, but was probably referring to the installation of Zaporizehzia occupied by Russia in Ukraine, the largest nuclear plant in Europe. Russia and Ukraine accused each other to risk an accident at the plant with their actions.
The US President is trying to gain Putin’s support for a 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ukraine accepted last week, while both sides continue to exchange heavy air strikes-including the morning of Monday (17)-and the Russians advance in the expulsion of the Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Monday that Putin would talk to Trump by telephone, but refused to comment on Trump’s statements about land and power plants.
On Friday (14), Kremlin reported that Putin had sent Trump a message about his ceasefire plan through the US envoy Steve Witkoff, which kept conversations in Moscow, expressing “cautious optimism” that an agreement could be achieved to end the three-year conflict.
In separate appearances on Sunday TV shows in the United States, Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump National Security Counselor, Mike Waltz, emphasized that there were still challenges to be resolved before Russia agreed with a ceasefire, and even more for a definitive resolution for war.
Asked at ABC if the US would accept a peace agreement in which Russia was allowed to keep the Ukrainian territory it had taken, Waltz replied, “We have to ask ourselves, is our national interest? Is it realistic? Shall we expel all Russians from each inch of the Ukrainian soil? ”
“We can talk about what is right or wrong, but we also have to talk about the reality of the situation on the ground,” he said, adding that the alternative to finding compromises on land and other issues was “endless war” and even World War III.
“Iron” guarantees
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he sees a good chance to end the war after Kiev accepted the US proposal for a 30-day provisional ceasefire.
However, Zelensky consistently said that the sovereignty of his country is not negotiable and that Russia must deliver the territory it has taken. Russia has taken the Crimea Peninsula in 2014 and now controls most of the four east regions of Ukraine since it invaded the country in 2022.
Zelensky did not publicly respond to Waltz’s observations.
Russia will seek “iron” guarantees in any peace agreement that the nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exclude Kiev from affiliation and that Ukraine will remain neutral, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.
“We will require iron safety guarantees to become part of this agreement,” said Grushko, quoted by Izvestia.
Putin says his actions in Ukraine aim to protect Russia’s national security against what he considers an aggressive and hostile West, in particular NATO expansion to the east. Ukraine and its Western partners say Russia is crashing an unnamed war of aggression and an appropriation of imperial -style land.
Moscow required Ukraine to abandon its ambitions in NATO, that Russia maintains control of the entire Ukrainian territory seized and that the size of the Ukrainian army is limited. He also wants western sanctions to be relieved and a presidential election in Ukraine, which Kiev says he is premature while martial law is in force.
European Union’s head of foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, said on Monday that the conditions required by Russia to agree with a ceasefire showed that Moscow does not really want peace.
Finland Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said the burden should be from Russia as an invading country, not Ukraine, to make concessions “because, otherwise, you would be compromising international law.”
United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Strmer also commented on Monday, stating that “a significant number” of nations-including England and France-were willing to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement with Russia. Defense heads will meet this week to establish the plans.
Russia has ruled out peace forces until the war is over.
“If they appear there, it means that they are highlighted in the conflict zone with all the consequences for these contingents as parts in the conflict, Russia’s Grushko said.
“We can talk about unarmed observers, a civil mission that would monitor the implementation of individual aspects of this agreement, or guarantee mechanisms. Meanwhile, it’s just small talk. ”
This content was originally published in Ukraine: “We’ll talk about territories,” says Trump about conversation with Putin on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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