Neutrality of Kyiv in any deal: Putin is ready for negotiations to end the war along the front line – Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to discussions about peace in Ukraine with future President Donald Trump based on ending the war along the front line. However, he will not agree to territorial concessions and will demand Kyiv’s neutrality as a prerequisite for any deal.

This is according to a report by Reuters, citing informed sources.

The Russian president “rules out any significant territorial concessions and insists that Kyiv renounce its ambitions to join NATO,” said five sources familiar with Kremlin thinking to Reuters.

At the same time, the Kremlin might agree to end the war along the current front line. There is also “room for negotiation regarding the precise division of four eastern regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.”

Additionally, “Russia may also be open to withdrawing troops from relatively small areas of territory it controls in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions.”

Moscow is also willing to discuss military security guarantees for Kyiv, provided Ukraine agrees to limit the size of its armed forces and reinstates rights for the use of the Russian language.

A Russian official stated that no agreement would be possible if Ukraine does not receive security guarantees, adding, “The question is how to avoid a deal that could one day drag the West into potential direct confrontation with Russia.”

When asked about what a possible ceasefire might look like, two Russian sources referred to the draft Istanbul agreements.

“Inside Russia, Putin could present a ceasefire agreement that allows Russia to retain most of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions as a victory, ensuring the protection of the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine and securing a land bridge to Crimea. The future of Crimea itself is non-negotiable, all Russian officials stated,” Reuters reported.

However, the decision by the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to launch ATACMS missiles deep into Russian territory “could complicate and delay any settlement, as well as harden Moscow’s demands,” the agency’s sources say.

And if a ceasefire agreement is not reached, “Russia will continue the fight.”

It should be noted that Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed strong criticism of the idea of negotiating with Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his intention to organize talks between Russia and Ukraine.

At the same time, as reported by The Washington Post, there is a growing shift among Ukraine’s European allies toward the idea that the war with Russia will only end through negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow, potentially involving concessions of Ukrainian territory.