Putin, Zelensky say they've agreed to new talks with US to end war - National & International News -

Putin, Zelensky say they’ve agreed to new talks with US to end war

Following recent talks with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Russian officials have announced an agreement to resume tri-lateral talks with Ukraine and the US to end the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022. This announcement was preceded by a goodwill gesture from Moscow: the release of 74-year-old American retired teacher Stephen Hubbard, imprisoned in Russia since 2022. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky also said he was willing to resume these talks.

The three sides began some preliminary technical talks last year, which quickly broke down. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s terms for ending the war have remained essentially unchanged: full Russian control over eastern regions of Ukraine, a guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO, and a full peace agreement rather than a ceasefire. Ukraine’s Zelenksy has remained equally uncompromising, demanding a full withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory, security guarantees from the West and reparations from Russia.

The Trump administration has recently been increasing pressure on Ukraine to come to the table and negotiate. Tactics have included limiting intelligence sharing with Ukraine and throttling Ukraine’s access to Starlink, which Ukraine uses to target its drone attacks and repel drone attacks from Russia. Trump has leaned hard on Zelensky to cease Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure. Trump has sought to blame these attacks for driving up gas and diesel prices in the US, but the US-Israeli war on Iran has had a far greater effect.

The US recently eased sanctions on Russia in order to receive shipments of Russian diesel. Russia can also offer the US a huge supply of fertilizer, the supply of which has also been severely disrupted by the Iran war.