Putin shows interest in Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine as negotiations begin

Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed his interest in using President Trump’s peace plan as a starting point for negotiations to end the nearly four-year war between Ukraine and Russia.

“We need to sit down and discuss this seriously,” Putin told reporters at the end of a three-day visit to Kyrgyzstan, according to an Associated Press report. He added: “Every word matters.”

Putin described US President Donald Trump’s plan as “a series of issues under discussion” and not as a draft agreement.

RUSSIA WARNS IT MAY REJECT US-UKRAINE PEACE PLAN IF IT DOES NOT MAINTAIN ALASKA SUMMIT ‘ARRANGEMENTS’

“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 said.

Barr, a candidate for the US Senate in Kentucky, said: “President Trump’s peace-through-strength leadership kept Putin in complete control. This war would never have taken place under his watch. Trump is the president of peace… the only leader who can end this war and return stability to Europe.”

However, Putin’s critics believe he is trying to deceive the US and the European Union.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who predicted Putin’s chauvinism and invasion of Ukraine, told Polish international news network TVP that “Peace under Putin is unachievable for one simple reason: Putin is war – and Russia is preparing for more.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s envoy, during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, on August 6, 2025. (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via Reuters)

Kasparov has also criticized NATO, Trump and the EU for failing to defend Ukraine and expel Russia from all of Ukraine’s territory.

“We owe them everything,” Kasparov recently said of Ukraine at the Halifax International Security Forum.

Momentum is building in the push for peace in Ukraine, but experts fear Putin will not relent

Kremlin officials have so far had little say in the peace plan Trump put forward last week. Putin has been recalcitrant about accepting previous Trump plans to end the war.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine fully withdraw from the entire Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions before Russia considers any form of “peace negotiations” – specifically including areas of each of those oblasts that Russia does not occupy. He also wants to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and hosting Western troops, so that Moscow can gradually pull the country back into its orbit.

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, talk to the press as their consultations continue at the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

The Institute for the Study of War on Wednesday cast doubt on Russia’s claims that its invasion is unstoppable, as it continues to struggle to overcome Russia’s invasion. cities in the eastern Donetsk region.

“Data on the extent of Russian military advances indicate that a Russian military victory in Ukraine is not inevitable, and that a rapid Russian conquest of the rest of Donetsk Oblast is not imminent,” the Washington-based think tank said. ‘The recent Russian advance elsewhere on the front line was largely opportunistic and took advantage of seasonal weather conditions.

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US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Moscow next week, the Kremlin says, while US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who has played a high-profile role in the peace efforts in recent weeks, may be heading to Kiev.

The original US peace proposal was criticized as skewed towards Russian demands, but a revised version emerged from talks in Geneva on Sunday between US and Ukrainian officials. Sidelined European leaders, fearing for their own safety amid Russian aggression, are seeking deeper involvement in the process.