Report: Putin may be open to a ceasefire with Ukraine

News

by Matthew Sedaka

Russian President Vladimir Putin has quietly indicated through diplomatic communications that he might be open to a ceasefire in the nearly two-year-old war with Ukraine despite public bragging about control of Kiev.

Putin has been indicating through mediators since last September that he might be willing to accept an agreement that “freezes fighting along the current lines,” according to an informed source. Report by the New York TimesCiting two former senior Russian officials, along with US and international officials.

It is unclear whether Ukraine's leaders, who have pledged to regain all of the country's territory, would accept such a deal.

“They are saying, ‘We are ready for ceasefire negotiations,’” one senior international official who met with senior Russian officials this fall told The Times.

“They want to stay where they are on the battlefield.”

For Putin, the truce may be ideal now that the war has effectively reached a stalemate, a long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive has proven disappointing, and Western aid may not arrive, the officials said.

Although he publicly sticks to his goal of controlling Ukraine, behind closed doors, Putin has indicated he simply wants Russia to declare victory and move on, the Times reported.

The Russian leader previously raised the possibility of reaching an agreement in the fall of 2022, after the Ukrainian army began to push back Moscow's forces and regain territory in the northeast.

However, some US officials have warned that Putin may not be looking to make a deal, and that this may simply be a diversionary tactic, while former Russian officials have indicated that he may also back away from the idea of ​​a truce if Moscow's forces begin to gain momentum on the battlefield. .