Russian President Vladimir Putin has quietly signaled through diplomatic communications that he may be open to a ceasefire in the nearly two-year war with Ukraine despite the public’s courage to take control of Kyiv.
Putin has suggested through intermediaries since September that he might be willing to accept a deal that “freezes fighting along current lines,” according to a report by the New York Times, citing two former senior Russian officials along with American and international officials.
It is unclear whether Ukraine’s leaders, who have vowed to take back all of the country’s territory, would accept such a deal.
“They said, ‘We are ready to negotiate a ceasefire,'” a senior international official who met with prominent Russians this fall told the Times.
“They want to stay where they are on the battlefield.”
It is unclear whether Ukrainian leaders will accept a deal that would require them to hand over territory currently occupied by Russian troops. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian servicemen fire an L119 howitzer at Russian troops near the front-line town of Bakhmut on Dec. 21. Reuters
For Putin, a truce may be appropriate now that the war has reached a stalemate, a long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive has proven disappointing, and Western aid may not work, the officials said.
While publicly maintaining his goal of controlling Ukraine, privately Putin has suggested that he just wants Russia to declare victory and move on, the Times reported.
The Russian leader had previously floated the possibility of a deal back in the fall of 2022, after Ukrainian forces began repelling Moscow’s forces and recapturing territory in the northeast.
Some American officials, however, warned Putin may not want to cut the deal and this could only be a misguided tactic, while former Russian officials suggested he could also abandon the idea of a truce if Moscow’s military begins to gain momentum on the battlefield.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
