Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to halt the war in Ukraine as part of his peace talks with the Trump administration, the Financial Times reports.
Newsweek has reached out to the State Department for comment.
Why It Matters
Donald Trump, who pledged to end the war in Ukraine in just 24 hours of taking office, has struggled to fulfil that campaign promise as peace talks have failed to progress beyond two temporary and partial ceasefires.
The president has become increasingly frustrated with the process and Trump officials have suggested the U.S. may abandon peace negotiations if they do not come to a viable conclusion soon. It’s unclear if that would also mean pulling American military aid Ukraine, something essential to its defense.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to heads of municipalities in the constituent entities of Russia at the All-Russian Municipal Forum in the Russia National Center in Moscow, Russia, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik,…
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to heads of municipalities in the constituent entities of Russia at the All-Russian Municipal Forum in the Russia National Center in Moscow, Russia, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Vyacheslav Prokofyev/AP
What To Know
Putin reportedly told special envoy Steve Witkoff, during their meeting in St Petersburg earlier this month, that he was willing to stop the war at the current front line.
That would mean that Moscow would relinquish its claims over four partly-occupied Ukrainian areas that remain under Kyiv’s control, the Times reported.
It is the first time the Russian leader has shown any willingness to back down from his more extreme demands for a peace deal. These have included; replacing Zelensky as Ukraine’s leader, ordering Ukraine stay neutral and give up ambitions of joining NATO, demanding recognition of Russian claims over all annexed territories, and more.
In exchange, Trump’s administration officials have suggested that the United States would recognize Russian ownership of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, sources told the Times. It would also acknowledge Russia’s control over the regions it does currently hold.
Recognizing Russia’s control of Crimea would deliver a major win for Putin, who has pushed for international legitimacy since he invaded the peninsula in February 2014. The annexation became the backdrop to a war in Ukraine’s Donbas region, before Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Kyiv would not cede any territory, including Crimea, to Russia as part of a peace deal. He also said on Tuesday that he hasn’t had any proposal from the Trump administration outlining specific steps towards ending the war.
Other U.S. proposals reportedly included deploying a European peacekeeping force to Ukraine, as well as a military force unconnected to NATO to monitor the ceasefire along the 1,000km front line. Ukraine would also have to agree not to try and retake Russian-occupied territory by force, while Moscow must stop its advance on Ukraine.
Russia has rejected some of the suggestions, such as military presence for NATO countries in Ukraine, but sources told the Financial Times that Putin would be willing to pull back on demands he made just last year for full control over four frontline regions in Ukraine; Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
Russia has retreated from some of those regions since it occupied them in 2022, and does not full control any of them. In return, Putin wants its control of Crimea recognized internationally and an agreement that Ukraine is barred from joining NATO.
What People Are Saying
Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday, “Ukraine will not recognize the occupation of Crimea. It’s our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine, there is nothing to discuss here.”
Olga Lautman, senior fellow Center for European Policy Analysis, said, “Crimea is and will always be Ukrainian, no matter what Trump and his thugs say.”
Trump said Sunday on Truth Social that he hopes Russia and Ukraine will agree to a ceasefire deal by the end of the week, “BOTH WILL THEN START TO DO BIG BUSINESS WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WHICH IS THRIVING, AND MAKE A FORTUNE!”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Paris on April 18 that the U.S. is prepared to do “whatever we can to facilitate” peace but, “if it’s not possible—if we’re so far apart that this is not going to happen—then I think the president’s probably at a point where he’s going to say, ‘Well, we’re done.
What Happens Next
Trump has said that he hopes to have a peace deal settled by the end of this week.