Putin reveals he’s ready to end war, but with giant caveat

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly said he would halt his war in Ukraine if Kiev gave up vast swaths of its territory in the eastern part of the country, European and Ukrainian officials told The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Putin reportedly presented the pitch to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday, proposing that Ukraine cede the Donbas region to Russia in exchange for a halt to the fighting, according to the WSJ. President Donald Trump has been pursuing peace in the region since the beginning of his presidency, and the war is believed to have taken hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides since the conflict began in 2022.

The Russian president reportedly told Witkoff that he would agree to cease hostilities in Ukraine if Kiev’s forces withdrew from the Donetsk region, officials briefed on the call told the WSJ. Russia currently occupies parts of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, while completely controlling the Luhansk region.

It is unclear whether or not Putin would fully withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the Donbas as part of the deal, according to the WSJ. European officials also reportedly participated in three phone calls with the Trump administration throughout the week to discuss the proposal.

Trump reportedly participated in the first call on Wednesday, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and Witkoff, according to thw WSJ. The same participants, aside from the president, participated in a second phone call on Thursday.

In a third Friday call, Witkoff reportedly told European officials that Putin’s proposal included two phases, according to the WSJ. In the first phase, Ukraine would withdraw its troops from Donetsk, freezing the frontlines until a more permanent proposal is hashed out by Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin in the second phase.

However, Ukraine would still seek a ceasefire before considering any proposal, a Ukrainian official told the WSJ.

The State Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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