President Donald Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 to pursue an end to the war in Ukraine, he announced on Friday.
In a post on social media, he said Moscow and Kyiv were close to a ceasefire that could resolve the three and a half year conflict, potentially requiring Ukraine to surrender significant territory. The talks would include Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he added.
President Putin has asserted control over four Ukrainian regions Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he annexed in 2014. His forces do not fully control all the territory in those regions.
Earlier discussions described efforts by United States and Russian officials to formalize Moscow’s occupation of land seized during the invasion. A White House official said the report was speculation. A Kremlin spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Independent observers could not verify all details.
Ukraine has signaled flexibility in pursuing an end to a war that has ravaged towns and cities and killed thousands of soldiers and civilians. Yet accepting the loss of about one fifth of Ukraine’s territory would be painful and politically difficult for Zelenskiy and his government.
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