Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to discuss a ceasefire agreement for Ukraine with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump but remains firm on refusing major territorial concessions and insists that Kyiv abandon its NATO ambitions, according to five sources familiar with Kremlin discussions, as reported by Reuters.
Trump, who has promised to quickly end the conflict, returns to office amid a period of Russian ascendancy. Moscow controls a substantial portion of Ukraine, roughly equivalent in size to the U.S. state of Virginia, and is making its most significant territorial gains since its initial 2022 invasion.
In the first detailed insight into Putin’s potential terms for a deal with Trump, five current and former Russian officials indicated that the Kremlin could agree to a ceasefire that freezes the conflict along the existing front lines. Some room for negotiation may exist over the precise boundaries of the eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which Moscow claims entirely as part of Russia. However, Russian forces control only 70-80% of this territory, with Ukrainian troops still holding around 26,000 square kilometers, based on open-source data.
Sources also suggested that Russia might consider withdrawing from small territories it holds in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions. However, Putin has emphasized that any ceasefire deal must reflect the current “realities” on the ground, warning against a short-lived truce that could allow Western countries to rearm Ukraine. “If there is no neutrality, it is difficult to imagine the existence of any good-neighborly relations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin stated earlier this month.
The incoming U.S. president’s communications director, Steven Cheung, claimed Trump is uniquely capable of brokering a peace deal. Trump has indicated a willingness to speak directly with Putin, but he has offered no specifics on how he would reconcile the deeply entrenched positions of both sides. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has maintained that his country will not rest until all Russian troops are expelled from Ukrainian territory within its 1991 borders. However, top U.S. military officials have expressed skepticism about the feasibility of this goal.
In negotiations, Putin’s opening terms include Ukraine relinquishing NATO aspirations and withdrawing troops from the contested regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. Russia remains adamantly opposed to NATO’s presence in Ukraine but is open to discussing security guarantees for Kyiv. Additional concessions could include limitations on Ukraine’s military size and commitments regarding the use of the Russian language.
Currently, Russia controls about 18% of Ukraine, including Crimea, annexed in 2014, and large portions of Donbas, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. Domestically, a ceasefire that consolidates most of these gains could be framed as a victory for Russia, particularly in terms of defending Russian-speaking populations and safeguarding access to Crimea.
Ultimately, any deal will rest on Putin’s approval. The Russian president has presented the conflict as a defining moment against Western expansion and interference, while Ukraine and its allies see the invasion as an illegal grab for sovereign territory. Some Russian sources have referenced a draft agreement discussed in April 2022 in Istanbul as a potential framework for negotiations, which would require Ukraine to adopt permanent neutrality in exchange for international security guarantees. However, significant hurdles remain, particularly in balancing security assurances without risking further escalation.
