On Thursday, interest was conveyed in using President Trump’s peace plan as a negotiating departure point to bring an end to the nearly four-year conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
“We need to sit down and discuss this seriously,” Putin informed reporters at the conclusion of a three-day visit to Kyrgyzstan, as per an Associated Press report. He further emphasized, “Every word matters.”
Putin characterized the U.S. President ’s plan as “a set of issues put forward for discussion” rather than a draft agreement.
“If Ukrainian troops withdraw from the territories they occupy, hostilities will cease. If they do not withdraw, we will achieve this by force,” the Russian strongman declared.
Andy Barr, R-Ky., a House Foreign Affairs Committee member, told Digital that the situation reinforces the need for strong American leadership. “Russia invaded Ukraine because Joe Biden was the weakest president in American history.”
Barr, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, stated, “President Trump’s peace-through-strength leadership kept Putin fully contained. This war never would have happened under his watch. Trump is the peace president… the only leader who can end this war and bring stability back to Europe.”
However, critics of Putin believe he is attempting to deceive the U.S. and the European Union.
The former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who had predicted Putin’s jingoism and invasion of Ukraine, informed the Polish international news network TVP that “Peace under Putin is unachievable for one simple reason: Putin is war — and Russia is gearing up for even more.”
Kasparov has also voiced criticism of NATO, Trump, and the EU for failing to defend Ukraine and evict Russia from Ukraine’s entire territory.
“We owe them everything,” Kasparov recently remarked regarding Ukraine at the Halifax International Security Forum.
Kremlin officials have offered minimal commentary so far concerning the peace plan put forward last week by Trump. Putin has previously shown recalcitrance regarding accepting Trump’s earlier plans to end the war.
It was stated that Ukraine completely withdraw from the entirety of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions before Russia would consider any sort of “peace negotiations”—notably including areas of each of those oblasts that Russia does not currently occupy. He also aims to keep and hosting any Western troops, thereby enabling Moscow to gradually draw the country back into its orbit.
The Institute for the Study of War on Wednesday cast doubt on the assertion that its invasion is unstoppable as it is still struggling to capture .
“Data on Russian forces’ rate of advance indicates that a Russian military victory in Ukraine is not inevitable, and a rapid Russian seizure of the rest of Donetsk Oblast is not imminent,” the Washington-based think tank said. “Recent Russian advances elsewhere on the front line have largely been opportunistic and exploited seasonal weather conditions.”
is scheduled to visit Moscow next week, the Kremlin says, while U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who in recent weeks has played a high-profile role in the peace efforts, may be heading to Kyiv.
The initial U.S. peace proposal was criticized for being skewed toward Russian demands, but an amended version emerged from discussions in Geneva on Sunday between American and Ukrainian officials. Sidelined European leaders, fearing for their own security amid Russian aggression, are seeking deeper involvement in the process.
The Associated Press and Digital’s Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.