The Russian leader rejected any compromise aimed at ending the war in Ukraine and again called for Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the Donbas region. Putin said that if they did not withdraw, Russia would occupy the territory:
Either we liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories.
Moscow already controls about 85% of Donbas.
In contrast, the Ukrainian president rejected the transfer of the territories. According to Trump’s peace plan, however, the Donbas region would come under Russian control.
Putin’s statement came after U.S. president Donald Trump said that the talks had gone “pretty well” and that the Russian president seems to “want to end the war.” However, after the talks Putin’s chief foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said that “no compromise” had been reached on ending the war.
The Kremlin is currently awaiting Washington’s response, but no new meeting has been scheduled yet. Putin said he disagreed with certain parts of the U.S. plan, but did not specify which points these were.
“At times we said that yes, we can discuss this, but to that we can’t agree,” Putin said.
Two significant points of contention remain: the fate of the territories occupied by Russian forces and security guarantees for Ukraine. Russia’s negotiating position has certainly been strengthened by its successes on the battlefield. However, Ukraine accuses Russia of deliberately delaying the ceasefire agreement in order to gain more Ukrainian territory for itself.
The Ukrainian president said last week that his chief negotiators had managed to secure some important changes to the original U.S. peace plan—which was considered highly favorable to Moscow—during the November 23rd negotiations with the U.S. delegation in Geneva.
