US President Donald Trump stated Sunday that he would meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and that negotiators involved in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine had already talked about “dividing up certain assets.”
Trump’s remarks follow his announcement last week that Ukraine had agreed to a 30-day truce suggested by the United States. Russia is now in the position to decide whether to accept his plan to stop the war quickly.
“I believe we’re doing fairly well with Russia. On a journey back to the White House following his weekend at Mar-a-Lago, he told reporters on board Air Force One, “We’ll see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday, I’ll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday.”
He remarked, “A lot of work has been done over the weekend; we want to see if we can end that war.” “I think we have a very good chance, but maybe we can’t.”
Trump claimed that certain areas had already been identified by negotiators for discussion.
“We’ll be discussing land. As you know, a lot of the land has changed significantly since the conflict. That’s a significant question, and we’ll be discussing land and power plants,” he continued.
However, I believe that both Russia and Ukraine have previously talked about a lot of it. We have already discussed the division of some assets.
Putin has so far given an unclear response to the ceasefire plan supported by Trump. “In principle, Moscow approved the proposal,” he said. However, he also outlined strict requirements, called for Kyiv to make concessions, and reiterated his assertion that the current Ukrainian government was contributing to the war’s “root cause.”
This week, U.S. negotiators will continue to meet with Russian and Ukrainian officials. Last week, the Kremlin also announced that US negotiators would visit Russia for additional discussions, but it withheld information on the participants.
Before launching its complete invasion in 2022, Russia began annexing portions of Ukraine in 2014, sparking the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two. About 11% of Ukraine’s territory has been lost since the 2022 invasion, CNN analyzed data from the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor.
One of the most delicate topics yet to be worked out is land concessions. Putin has made it a requirement of signing a ceasefire, and U.S. officials have stated that Ukraine will probably have to give up territory in order for the war to end.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long refused to give up territory, and some European officials have expressed concern that doing so would seem to reward Putin for starting his invasion. Additionally, Russia has stated that it has no intention of ceding the large areas of Ukrainian territory that it has taken.
Trump’s love of Putin and his readiness to make concessions to Moscow before negotiations even started have also unsettled NATO members in Europe, who are now publicly doubting the validity of decades’ worth of US security assurances to the continent.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, told CNN on Sunday that the current negotiations on Ukraine were fruitful, but he did not specify how the issue of territorial concessions would be settled.
Putin “accepts the philosophy of President Trump” in wanting to see the war come to an end, Witkoff said. He described his meeting last week with Putin as a “solution-based discussion,” and voiced confidence that a pause in fighting could arrive within weeks.
Putin also said Friday that his country is working at restoring relations with the US, after they were “practically reduced to zero, destroyed by the previous American administration.”
“Overall, the situation is starting to move,” he said, referring to relations with the Trump administration. “Let’s see what comes out of this.”
