Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to insist that Moscow, as part of a peace deal with Kiev, must gain full control over the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, which Russia has illegally annexed and partially occupied. Three Bloomberg sources in Moscow familiar with the talks said this.
US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff tried to persuade Putin to agree to a ceasefire and end the war along the current front lines during the April 25 meeting, two sources told the agency. But Putin, they said, insisted on his maximalist territorial demands.
The talks are currently at an impasse, one of the sources told Bloomberg. He believes that further progress is possible only with a personal meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump.
Vladimir Putin’s unwillingness to back down from his maximalist demands is a blow to Donald Trump’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire and a final peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. All this is happening against the background of growing dissatisfaction in the White House with the lack of progress in negotiations to end the Russian-Ukrainian war. The US leadership has already threatened to withdraw from the negotiations if Russia and Ukraine do not reach an agreement in the near future.
There are still no signs that Putin will back down from his territorial demands and accept US proposals to end the war, European officials told Bloomberg. They noted that the negotiations are ongoing and these assessments may change. According to them, in the next few weeks it will become clear whether Washington will be able to reach an agreement between Moscow and Kiev or whether the US will withdraw from the negotiations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that the first step towards peace in Ukraine is for Russia to agree to an unconditional ceasefire, Reuters reported. "They [the Russians] must take clear steps towards ending the war, and we insist that the first step be an unconditional and complete ceasefire. Russia must do this", the Ukrainian president stressed. Zelensky also said that Ukraine is preparing for more discussions with the US, aimed at putting pressure on Moscow to participate in talks. "We are choosing the pressure points in Russia that will most strongly encourage Moscow to engage in diplomacy", the Ukrainian president noted.