 "Ahead of talks with Putin, Trump hints at seeking land concessions from Ukraine for ceasefire")
Ahead of talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump has hinted at seeking territorial concessions from Ukraine.
In remarks onboard the Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump said that he will hold talks with Putin on phone on Tuesday regarding the war in Ukraine.
In an apparent reference to the visit of special envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia, Trump said that a lot of progress had been made over the weekend and he hoped to have an announcement by Tuesday.
Witkoff arrived in Moscow on a brief visit on Thursday and held late-night talks about the proposed 30-day ceasefire with Putin. The Kremlin said that Witkoff provided details of the proposed 30-day ceasefire and Reuters later reported that Putin sent a message to Trump regarding the ceasefire via Witkoff.
In the US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia last week, Ukraine accepted a 30-day ceasefire proposal and put the ball in Russia’s court. While Putin has accepted the idea of the ceasefire, he has said he would have such a ceasefire on his own maximalist terms.
‘We’re talking about dividing up certain assets’
In the latest sign that the pressure remains on Ukraine and not Russia to secure a ceasefire, Trump said that he will talk about territorial concessions with Putin and conversations about mapping out such concessions are already in motion.
Even as Putin has essentially rejected the ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States, which Trump has himself urged Putin to accept, Trump on Sunday said that “we’re doing pretty well” with Russia.
When asked about the concessions by a reporter, Trump said that they will be talking about land.
“We will be talking about land — there is a lot of land. It’s a lot different than before the war. We will be talking about power plants. It’s a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides — Ukraine and Russia. We’re already talking about that – dividing up certain assets,” said Trump.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts"I'll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday. .. We'll be talking about land. We'll be talking about power plants ... Dividing up certain assets."
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) March 17, 2025
-- Pres. Trump pic.twitter.com/zwW5DqVOkk
While Kremlin confirmed that Putin and Trump are scheduled to hold talks on Tuesday, it refused to give details, saying “we never get ahead of events” and “the content of conversations between two presidents are not subject to any prior discussion”.
Since assuming office, Trump has put pressure on Ukraine and its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to tone down their rhetoric about Putin and attacks on Russia and be open to surrendering land to secure peace. He has falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war, called Zelenskyy a dictator, and essentially called for his ouster, and reached out covertly to his political opponents in what has been seen as a possible attempt at regime-change.
On the contrary, he has not made similar threats to Putin and has maintained he wants peace even as he has rejected the 30-day US-backed ceasefire proposal and laid down his own conditions.
While saying nothing about Russia, top US officials have indicated that Ukraine would have to cede territory.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on Sunday said that formally ceding Crimea and Donbas to Russia “is going to be some type of territory-for-future-security guarantees [deal]”. He further ruled out Ukraine’s entry to Nato.
“A permanent pathway into Nato, or permanent membership into Nato for Ukraine, is incredibly unlikely,” said Waltz.
The terms as proposed by Waltz would mean serving a victory to Russia on a platter. After failing to occupy the entire country and toppling Zelenskyy’s government in the beginning of the war, Putin changed the objective of the war to controlling the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Moreover, keeping Ukraine out of Nato and ensuring its permanent neutrality are longstanding objectives of Putin.
While saying that “nuances” regarding the ceasefire deal need to be addressed, Putin went on to list his demands: Ukrainian troops in Kursk would not be allowed to withdraw, they would need to surrender; Ukraine would not receive weapons during the ceasefire; and Ukraine would neither mobilise or train soldiers during the ceasefire. In an apparent reference to his longstanding maximalist demands, Putin further said that he wanted a such terms that lead to “long-term peace” and “eliminate the original causes of this crisis”.
Since before invading Ukraine, Putin has demanded that Ukraine should abandon the desire to join North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), enshrine neutrality in its constitution, limit the size of its military, recognise the territory under Russian occupation as Russian sovereign territory, include Russian language in formal business, among other demands. Critics maintain that the implementation of such demands would mean Ukraine ceding sovereignty to Russia.
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