Vladimir Putin has promised a ceasefire with Ukraine if Zelensky agrees to two conditions.
The Russian despot has said that it will honour a ceasefire agreement if Kyiv withdraws troops from occupied regions and renounces plans to join NATO.
The Russian media outlet RIA quotes Putin as saying negotiations could begin “as early as tomorrow”.
The proposed deal would include areas the Kremlin has never controlled during the two year-long conflict, or from which it has withdrawn during the course of the fighting.
Putin made the comments during a speech on Friday, in which he offered the most specific conditions he has set for an end to the war.
But the 71-year-old autocrat made it clear he would not be looking to compromise on Russia‘s terms.
The proposed deal would effectively give Moscow control of four Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
There is little prospect of Kyiv countenancing such an agreement. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky told CNN in April 2022 that Ukraine is not willing to give up territory in the besieged eastern part of the country to end the war.
He told the outlet that if control of the Donbas was ceded to Russia, there was no guaruntee that he would respect international agreements and could use it as a platform for attacks on Ukraine‘s capital.
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