Another important issue in the talks is Western security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv says are needed to prevent Moscow from invading again in the future.<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s original plan \u2013 drafted without input from Ukraine\u2019s European allies \u2013 would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.<\/p>\n
The US pared back the original plan over the weekend following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but has not yet released the new version.<\/p>\n
Putin, who has seen the new plan, said it could be a negotiation starter.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, we agree that it could form the basis for future agreements,\u201d he said of the latest draft, which the US is thought to have shortened to about 20 points. But Russia was still seeking international recognition of the occupied territories, Putin added.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s top aide, Andriy Yermak, strongly denied that in an interview with US outlet the Atlantic published on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as Zelenskyy is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory,\u201d Yermak said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll we can realistically talk about right now is really to define the line of contact,\u201d he said, referring to the sprawling 1100km front line.<\/p>\n
US negotiator Steve Witkoff was expected in Moscow next week to discuss the revised document, Putin said.<\/p>\n
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is meanwhile to visit Kyiv later this week, Ukraine\u2019s top presidential aide Andriy Yermak said.<\/p>\n
Little can be done<\/p>\n
In his remarks this week, Putin repeated the claim that Russia had encircled the Ukrainian army in Pokrovsk and Myrnograd in Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donetsk region \u2013 the most fiercely embattled area and a key target for Moscow\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cKrasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov are completely surrounded,\u201d he said, using the Russian names for the cities.<\/p>\n
Moscow was also advancing in Vovchansk and Siversk, as well as approaching the important logistic hub of Guliaipole, he added.<\/p>\n
The Russian offensive \u201cis practically impossible to hold back, so there is little that can be done about it\u201d, Putin said.<\/p>\n
Ukraine has denied Pokrovsk and Myrnograd are encircled, insisting its forces continue to hold the enemy along the front line.<\/p>\n
Putin also questioned Zelenskyy\u2019s legitimacy and said signing any agreement with him would be legally \u201calmost impossible\u201d at the moment, a suggestion that has drawn groans from Kyiv and its allies.<\/p>\n
According to data analysed by AFP from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have conquered an average of 467sq km (180sq m) each month in 2025 \u2013 a step up from 2024.<\/p>\n
Moscow launched its fullscale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II.<\/p>\n
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another important issue in the talks is Western security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv says are needed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8227,103846,2562,15124,5760,71,42,98669,19720,3963,43,46611,90,49532,2572,8217,8105,8221,3048,312,199,103847,1361,40,38,41,39,3461,53923,8216,1533,48657,6730],"class_list":["post-156976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-army","tag-cedes","tag-claims","tag-fight","tag-force","tag-from","tag-headlines","tag-kyiv","tag-land","tag-moscow","tag-news","tag-offensive","tag-on","tag-otherwise","tag-president","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-russian","tag-said","tag-says","tag-take","tag-territory","tag-that","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-ukraine","tag-unless","tag-vladimir","tag-will","tag-withdrew","tag-would"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}