In a dramatic shift in tone, 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.
Putin told Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, during a meeting in St Petersburg earlier this month that Moscow could relinquish its claims to areas of four partly occupied Ukrainian regions that remain under Kyiv’s control, the report said citing three people familiar with the talks.
This marks the first formal indication since the early months of the war that President Putin may be willing to scale back Russia’s maximalist demands to end the invasion. The talks are part of a broader diplomatic push led by President Donald Trump, whose administration has intensified backchannel efforts to halt the war. According to the report, the US has floated a settlement under which Washington would recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea and acknowledge its de facto control over parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson — areas Russia partially occupies.
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday said that Steve Witkoff will travel to Russia for talks later this week with Putin.
Leavitt said “We’re hopefully moving in the right direction” on Ukraine while noting US President Donald Trump has expressed frustrations with both Russia and Ukraine in his drive to seal a halt to the fighting.
Witkoff has previously held three long meetings with Putin on prospects for an end to the war in Ukraine. Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov said earlier on Tuesday Witkoff would visit Moscow this week, according to Interfax. The meeting comes as talks prepare to get under way in London on Wednesday regarding the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be happy to meet with Trump later this week when they both attend the funeral for Pope Francis.
Zelenskyy, speaking to reporters in Kyiv, said Ukraine would be ready to hold talks with Russia in any format once a ceasefire is in place and the fighting between Kyiv and Moscow’s forces has stopped.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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