“Tomorrow morning (Washington time. – Ed.) I will be talking to President Putin about the war in Ukraine. Many elements of the final agreement have been agreed upon, but much remains to be done,” U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social network on Monday, March 17. “I look forward to talking with President Putin,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the preparation of a conversation between Putin and Trump. “It is indeed true. Such a conversation is being prepared on Tuesday,” he said at a briefing in response to a related question, adding that it was ‘inappropriate’ to comment on the upcoming talks between the two presidents.
Possible topics of conversation between Trump and Putin
The intention to talk with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin next Tuesday was revealed by the American head of state himself on the evening of March 16, speaking to reporters aboard the presidential plane on the way to Washington from his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago. Trump said he hoped he and Putin “will be able to make some statements” regarding the U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“I think we’ve had a lot of discussion in that regard, a lot, on both sides,” Trump added. Further talks will focus on “territories” and “energy plants,” according to CNN and the AP news agency. These topics Trump calls “the division of some assets,” according to the reports. For its part, Reuters points out that the planned talks between Trump and Putin are also likely to raise the issue of control over the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant seized by Russian forces.
Meanwhile, US presidential special envoy Steve Whitkoff revealed that Washington and Moscow are discussing access to ports in the Black Sea. “There are regions that we all know the Russians are targeting. There’s a nuclear reactor there that supplies quite a bit of electricity to Ukraine. That needs to be dealt with,” Whitkoff said in a March 16 interview with CBS television. Trump’s special envoy emphasized there are “a lot of elements” that need to be agreed upon for the ceasefire to take effect.
Semafor: The US may recognize Crimea as Russian as part of a future deal
The Trump administration is considering recognizing Ukraine’s Crimea as Russian territory as part of a future agreement to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, the US publication Semafor wrote on the evening of March 17, citing two sources familiar with the discussions. The White House is also discussing the possibility of calling on the UN to do the same, the sources said.
However, the publication emphasized that no final decisions have been made, and this possibility is one of many that Trump’s team is considering as part of attempts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed at a press briefing on March 17 that representatives of Trump’s team had discussed possible territorial concessions with Ukrainian officials, without giving any specific details.
The Independent: Kiev has identified “red lines” of negotiations
The Ukrainian authorities have identified a number of “red lines” for any possible ceasefire negotiations with Russia, the British newspaper The Independent wrote on March 16, citing senior Ukrainian government sources.
Among the key conditions, according to the paper’s interlocutors, is a refusal to make additional territorial concessions, despite Putin’s desire to take back four Ukrainian regions in full, two of which have been partially occupied by the Russian military since 2014 and were annexed by Moscow after a full-scale invasion in 2022 on the basis of illegal “referendums.”
“It is unreasonable to demand a full handover of, for example, Zaporizhzhya or Kherson. This sounds like complete nonsense to us,” they said, adding that the fate of the territories seized by Russia after February 2022 has not yet been decided. “We will do everything possible to get them back diplomatically,” the Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on March 15 approved the composition of the Ukrainian delegation for the peace talks.
