As the U.S. and Russia are engaged in talks on ways to end the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has maintained inflexible, maximalist conditions for any potential peace deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he will speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, March 18, about ending the Ukraine war. Kyiv's territorial concessions and control of the Zaporizhya nuclear power plant are expected to feature prominently in the talks.
Putin demands that Ukraine surrenders the entirety of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhya and Kherson oblasts, including areas that Russian forces do not already occupy.
The Russian president has recently claimed that Novorossiya – defined by the Kremlin as all of eastern and southern Ukraine – is an integral part of Russia.
However, Reuters reports that Zelenskiy has consistently said that his country's sovereignty is not negotiable and that Russia must surrender the territory it has seized.
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says Russia doesn’t really want peace, as talks about Ukraine take place in Brussels.
