Trump, Putin to discuss division of Ukrainian land, power assets today
President Donald Trump said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday about ending the Ukraine war, with territorial concessions by Kyiv and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant expected to feature prominently in the talks.
“We want to see if we can bring that war to an end,” the US president told reporters on Air Force One during a flight back to the Washington area from Florida. “Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.”
Trump is trying to win Putin’s support for a 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ukraine accepted last week, as both sides continued trading heavy aerial strikes through the weekend and Russia moved closer to ejecting Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold in the western Russian region of Kursk.
Asked about what concessions were being considered in ceasefire negotiations, Trump said: “We’ll be talking about land. We’ll be talking about power plants...We’re already talking about that, dividing up certain assets.” Trump gave no details but was most likely referring to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia facility in Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear plant. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of risking an accident at the plant with their actions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Monday that Putin would speak with Trump by phone but declined to comment on Trump’s remarks about land and power plants.
The Kremlin said on Friday that Putin had sent Trump a message about his ceasefire plan via US envoy Steve Witkoff, who held talks in Moscow, expressing “cautious optimism” that a deal could be reached to end the three-year conflict.
Asked whether the US would accept a peace deal in which Russia was allowed to keep Ukrainian territory that it has seized, US NSA Waltz said, “We can talk about what is right or wrong but also have to talk about the reality of the situation on the ground,” he said, adding that the alternative to finding compromises on land and other issues was “endless warfare” and even World War Three.
Russia will seek “ironclad” guarantees in any peace deal that NATO nations exclude Kyiv from membership and that Ukraine will remain neutral, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Russian media outlet Izvestia in remarks published on Monday that made no reference to the ceasefire proposal.
“We will demand ironclad security guarantees become part of this agreement,” Izvestia cited Grushko as saying. Putin says his actions in Ukraine are aimed at protecting Russia's national security against what he casts as an aggressive and hostile West, in particular NATO’s eastward expansion. Ukraine and its partners maintain Russia is waging an unprovoked war of aggression and an imperial-style land grab.
30 nations willing to offer peacekeepers
More than 30 countries are expected to be involved in the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ to support Ukraine, UK PM Starmer's spokesperson said. “The contribution capabilities will vary, but this will be a significant force, with a significant number of countries providing troops.” Russia has repeatedly rejected the idea of soldiers from countries belonging to the NATO military alliance being stationed in Ukraine.
