Vladimir Putin has indicated that a draft United States-Ukraine peace proposal could serve as the basis for a future agreement to end the nearly four-year-old conflict, even as he threatened further territorial advances if Ukraine does not meet Russia’s demands.
Renewed diplomatic activity between Washington, Kyiv and key NATO members has intensified in recent days after the Trump administration advanced a series of proposals aimed at ending Russia’s invasion.
On Thursday, Putin acknowledged for the first time that the emerging outlines of a plan developed by the U.S. and Ukraine could provide a foundation for a negotiated settlement.
“In general, we agree that this could be the basis for future agreements,” he said during a trip to Kyrgyzstan, in comments translated by Reuters.
It is the first time the Russian president has publicly addressed the peace efforts since a surge of discussions between U.S. and Ukrainian officials.
Those talks followed reports last week of a 28-point U.S.-Russia draft plan that appeared to heavily favour Moscow’s longstanding demands, prompting Ukraine and several European allies to scramble to amend the document.
Their counterproposals were presented during discussions in Geneva last weekend with a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Despite expressions of cautious optimism from the White House in recent days, Putin’s remarks suggested little movement on the core issues that have prevented progress towards a settlement.
He again described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “illegitimate”, and reiterated that Russia would halt its offensive only if Ukrainian forces withdraw from unspecified territories currently under Kyiv’s control.
“If Ukrainian troops leave the territories they occupy, then we will stop fighting,” Putin said. “If they don’t, we will achieve our aims militarily.”
Putin noted that Ukraine’s “illegitimate” leadership made it legally impossible to sign any binding agreement with Kyiv, and insisted that any eventual settlement would require wider international recognition of a new political framework.
Putin also confirmed that Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy, would travel to Russia early next week.
He dismissed criticisms that Witkoff - long associated with Donald Trump through business ventures - had displayed pro-Russian bias in the negotiations, calling such accusations “nonsense”.
Witkoff has faced scrutiny in both Europe and the U.S. after a leaked phone call revealed he had advised a senior Kremlin aide on how Putin should approach discussions with Trump.
Tatiana Stanovaya, an independent Russian political analyst, suggested that Putin sees little incentive to alter his demands at this stage.
Writing on X, she said: “I see nothing at the moment that would force Putin to recalculate his goals or abandon his core demands.
"Those demands have remained essentially unchanged for over two years (with some adjustments, of course). He feels more confident than ever about the battlefield situation and is convinced that he can wait until Kyiv finally accepts that it cannot win and must negotiate on Russia’s well-known terms."
