Kremlin Confirms Russia-US Negotiations on Ukraine War for the First Time

For the first time, the Kremlin has confirmed negotiations between Russia and the United States, with reports indicating that the government of Donald Trump, the President of the United States, will publicly announce a plan to end the war in Ukraine next week. Kyiv has deemed any agreement between Moscow and Washington without considering the interests of Ukraine and the European Union as 'dangerous.' Sources close to the Ukrainian presidency say that Keith Klague, Trump's special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, is set to visit Kyiv on February 20. According to Bloomberg, he is expected to present Trump's peace plan regarding Ukraine to allies during the Munich Security Conference scheduled for February 14-16. Bloomberg reported that this plan is based on 'peace through strength' and envisions ending hostilities without the liberation of areas occupied by Russian forces. It is said that the international community will not recognize these areas as belonging to Russia. Additionally, security commitments will be provided to Ukraine to prevent further Russian aggression. No further details have been disclosed in this report. NBC News, citing its sources, reported on the existence of 'two contradictory strategies' within the Trump administration: one representative states that the US seeks to hold elections in Ukraine after a ceasefire. According to this report, some American officials believe that more pressure on Russia is needed to encourage the Kremlin to end the war, while others suggest that cutting military-financial aid to Ukraine could force Kyiv to accept Moscow's demands. Recently, Donald Trump stated that he wants Ukraine to receive rare minerals in exchange for US financial support. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed this initiative last year and reiterated Ukraine's readiness for a 'mutually beneficial deal with Washington' in response to the recent request from the US President. Rare earth elements such as dysprosium, neodymium, and cerium are considered strategic resources and are vital for producing many advanced devices, but extracting these resources generates a massive amount of toxic waste. Donald Trump and senior representatives of his administration have always stated their determination to end the Russia-Ukraine war as soon as possible, but no details of a potential peace plan have been released so far. However, on Wednesday, February 6, the Kremlin spokesperson confirmed negotiations between Moscow and Washington for the first time, although he refrained from providing details. According to Dmitry Peskov, 'contact between some officials is established and has increased in recent days.' He further claimed that Russia 'has always been ready to negotiate,' but according to him, 'given the battlefield situation, it is Kyiv that should be asking for negotiations.' These remarks from the Kremlin spokesperson come as Russia continues to advance in eastern Ukraine, although the pace of this advance has slowed over the past three months compared to previous months. According to estimates from the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank monitoring daily developments in the war, Russia occupied about 500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in January, but during these occupations, around 50,000 of its troops were killed or wounded. Russia has even 'withdrawn North Korean forces from Kursk' after heavy casualties. The Russian army is unable to liberate the Kursk region, parts of which have come under Ukrainian occupation, even with the help of North Korean soldiers. This comes despite Vladimir Putin defining the liberation of these areas as the 'first duty' of the Ministry of Defense. Ukrainian forces have now entered Russian territory for six months. According to Bloomberg, the occupation of part of Russian territory, which has occurred for the first time since World War II, is 'a blow to the credibility of Vladimir Putin himself, who claims to be a capable ruler able to defend national interests.' According to this report, Kyiv views the occupied areas of the Kursk region as a trump card and hopes to exchange them during upcoming negotiations for some of its own occupied areas – primarily the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and nearby cities. On Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters, 'The Kursk operation is very important, and its results will become clear during the diplomatic end of this war.' A day earlier, in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, he deemed negotiations with Vladimir Putin likely; this is a significant shift from his previous position, which mentioned a presidential decree to prevent negotiations with Putin. However, now Volodymyr Zelensky states, 'If people believe we should resort to diplomatic solutions, we are ready to negotiate, and these discussions should involve the participation of the US, Europe, Ukraine, and Russia.' Zelensky's readiness to change his position comes as Vladimir Putin has recently claimed that the Ukrainian president 'lacks legitimacy to sign a peace agreement.' The Kremlin dismissed Zelensky's statements about negotiating with Putin as 'hollow words.' Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior expert at the Carnegie Center, considers this position 'indicative of the Kremlin's unwillingness to end the war.' She wrote on the social media platform X, 'Trump's plan to end the war has two flaws. First, the US President believes that the state of the Russian economy is not good, and threats of further sanctions worry Russian officials. Second, Washington's view is that the Kremlin wants to end the war only if its demands in Ukraine are met.' However, according to this expert, 'Putin believes he has sufficient economic, human, and military resources to subdue Ukraine and compel the West to recognize Russia as a superpower and accept its demands.' Russia sent 'security demands' to the US on the eve of a large-scale attack on Ukraine, which included a request for NATO not to expand eastward and to withdraw forces from countries that joined NATO after 1997. These demands were rejected despite Moscow's deadline for a 'technical-military response' from Western countries. Many experts believe that the Kremlin still views the war against Ukraine as a tool to pressure the West to accept its demands. Vladimir Putin has repeatedly emphasized this position.