By Vladimir Soldatkin
BISHKEK (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that outline draft peace proposals discussed by the United States and Ukraine could become the basis of future agreements to end the conflict in Ukraine, but that if not Russia would fight on.
U.S. President Donald Trump has long said he wants to end the war in Ukraine, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two, but his efforts so far, including a summit with President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August, have not brought peace.
A leaked 28-point U.S. peace plan emerged last week, spooking Ukrainian and European officials who felt it bowed to Moscow’s key demands on NATO, Moscow’s control of a fifth of Ukraine and restrictions on Ukraine’s army.
European powers then gave their counter-proposal for peace and at talks in Geneva, the U.S. and Ukraine said they had created an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war.
Putin, speaking in Bishkek after a summit with the leaders of a grouping of former Soviet republics, told reporters that the discussions so far were not about a draft agreement of any kind but about sets of issues.
He said that in Geneva, the U.S. and Ukraine had decided to divide up the 28 points into four separate components – and that a copy had been transmitted to Moscow.
“In general, we agree that this could be the basis for future agreements,” Putin said. “We see that the American side takes into account our position.”
Putin said that some things still needed to be discussed. If Europe wanted a pledge not to attack it, then Russia was willing to give such a formal pledge, he said, though he added that it was “complete nonsense” to suggest Russia would attack Europe.
THE CHOICE IS WAR OR PEACE, PUTIN SAYS
Putin mixed a clear public expression of readiness to engage with the Trump administration over a possible peace plan for Ukraine with several warnings that Russia was prepared to fight on if necessary and take more of Ukraine.
Russian forces control more than 19% of Ukraine, or 115,600 square km, up one percentage point from two years ago, and have advanced in 2025 at the fastest pace since 2022, according to pro-Ukrainian maps.
Russia, Putin noted, was being told that it should cease the fighting but needed Kyiv’s forces to pull back before it could do so.
“Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the territories they hold, and then the fighting will cease. If they don’t leave, then we shall achieve this by armed means. That’s it,” Putin said.
Putin said that he considered the Ukrainian leadership to be illegitimate and so it was legally impossible to sign a deal with Kyiv.
It was therefore important, he said, to ensure that any agreement was recognised by the international community – and that the international community recognised Russian gains in Ukraine.
“Therefore, broadly speaking, of course, we ultimately want to reach an agreement with Ukraine. But right now, this is practically impossible. Impossible legally,” Putin said.
He said that the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and the eastern Donbas region should be a topic for discussions with the U.S.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff plans to visit Moscow early next week, Putin said. U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies were unexpected, he added.
Commenting on the leak of a recording of a call between top advisers to Trump and Putin, the Kremlin chief rejected the suggestion that Witkoff had shown himself to be biased towards Moscow in peace talks over Ukraine, describing it as nonsense.
“It would be astonishing if he … rained curses down upon our heads, was very rude and then arrived to develop ties with us,” Putin said of Witkoff, casting him as a patriot defending U.S. interests.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Bishkek, and by Vladimir Soldatkin, Darya Korsunskaya, Dmitry Antonov, Gleb Stolyarov, Maxim Rodionov and Fylyp Lebediev; writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Andrew Osborn and Mark Heinrich)
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