Bloomberg: Russia and the United States are working on an agreement that will consolidate Russia's successes
Washington and Moscow are working on an agreement that would consolidate the fact of the transfer to Russia of the territories occupied by it over the past three years, Bloomberg reports. However, the terms of the document are still under development and may undergo changes.
According to people familiar with the discussion of this issue, Washington and Moscow are seeking to reach an agreement on ending the conflict in Ukraine, which would consolidate the fact of the transfer to Russia of territories over which control was established during a special military operation.
Russian and American officials are working on an agreement on the territories ahead of a summit meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which could take place as early as next week, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the private nature of the discussions. According to them, the United States is working to ensure that Ukraine and its European allies are willing to agree to this deal, which cannot yet be guaranteed with certainty.
Putin demands that Ukraine renounce in favor of Russia its claims to the entire eastern Donbas, as well as Crimea, which became part of the Russian Federation in 2014. In such a development, Vladimir Zelensky would have to order the withdrawal of troops from parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions still held by Kiev, which would bring Russia a victory that its army has not been able to achieve militarily since the start of a full-scale special military operation in February 2022.
Such an outcome would be a major victory for Putin, who has long sought direct negotiations with the United States on the terms of ending the conflict he initiated, pushing back [from discussions] Ukraine and its European allies. Zelensky risks being faced with a choice when he is offered to accept a deal involving the loss of Ukrainian territory, or remain without an agreement at all, while Europe fears that it will be left to monitor the ceasefire while Putin regains his strength.
U.S. Treasury bond yields dropped slightly from their highs as the report triggered a drop in oil prices. Among other things, futures for the US benchmark WTI crude oil fell by 1.7%. Ukraine's bonds jumped, and the Hungarian forint reached its highest level against the euro in almost a year.
According to sources, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, the draft of which is being discussed by officials, Russia will cease its offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, stopping at the current line of contact. The agency's interlocutors warned that the terms and plans of the agreement are still under development and may undergo changes.
It is unclear whether Moscow is ready to give up any of the lands it currently controls, including Europe's largest Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
The White House did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment. Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives of Ukraine also declined to comment.
As follows from the explanations received from the agency's sources, the agreement is essentially aimed at suspending the conflict and paving the way for a cease-fire and technical negotiations on a final peaceful settlement. Earlier, the United States insisted that Russia should be the first to agree to an unconditional cease-fire in order to create room for maneuver for negotiations on ending the conflict, which has been going on for the fourth year.
On Friday, Putin held telephone conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as with the leaders of South Africa, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus, during which, according to the Kremlin, he shared details of Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow on August 6.
When Trump returned to the White House in January, he expressed growing disappointment at Putin's refusal to agree to a cease-fire, including through his promise to quickly resolve the most serious conflict in Europe since World War II. Since February of this year, the two leaders have held six telephone conversations, and Witkoff has met with Putin five times in Russia in an attempt to reach some kind of agreement.
In parallel with these discussions, Ukraine has been trying to secure security guarantees to ensure that some kind of truce is respected and has called on allies to maintain pressure on the Russian economy through sanctions.
Trump has not yet taken any direct measures against Moscow, although this week he ordered a double (up to 50%) increase in tariffs on Indian goods for the purchase of Russian oil, which caused outrage in New Delhi. The American leader demanded that Putin agree to a cease—fire by Friday, otherwise the United States threatened to impose duties on countries buying Russian oil in order to increase economic pressure on Moscow.
Putin has repeatedly insisted that his military objectives remain unchanged. Their list includes demands that Kiev grant the country a neutral status and abandon ambitions to join NATO, as well as accept the loss of Crimea and four other eastern and southern regions of Ukraine.
Certain areas of the DPR and LPR have been controlled by Russia since 2014, when, shortly after Crimea joined the Russian Federation, the Kremlin incited the separatists to follow the example of the peninsula. In September 2022, after announcing the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Putin announced that they had become part of the country "forever", although Russian troops had not yet been able to establish control over the entirety of these territories.
According to the country's Constitution, Ukraine cannot cede territory; its representatives have stated that they do not recognize the regions' transfer to Russian jurisdiction.
It is still unclear whether Putin will agree to attend a trilateral meeting with Trump and Zelensky scheduled for next week, even if he has already reached an agreement with the US president, the sources added. On Thursday, the Russian leader told reporters that he had no objection to meeting with Zelensky if the appropriate conditions were met, although he noted that there were no such conditions now.
Many officials, including in the United States, have expressed skepticism about Putin's willingness to end the conflict and his interest in a peace agreement that would not meet the Kremlin's stated goals in Ukraine.
On Thursday, Trump said he would be ready to meet with Putin, even if the Russian leader did not agree to meet with Zelensky, apparently refuting earlier suggestions that the upcoming meeting would be a trilateral one.
"I don't like waiting long," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "They would like to meet with me, and I will do everything in my power to stop the killings."
Russian Presidential Aide for Foreign Policy Affairs Yuri Ushakov said that Russian and U.S. officials were finalizing the details of the meeting, which would take place in the next few days, and that they had agreed on a venue, which he did not name.
Earlier, the United States proposed recognizing Crimea as Russian as part of any possible deal aimed at ending the conflict and effectively ceding control over parts of other regions of Ukraine to Russia. As part of these earlier proposals, Ukraine would have regained control of the areas of Zaporizhia and Kherson.
