On this pool {photograph} distributed by the Russian state company Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a gathering of the Collective Safety Treaty Organisation (CSTO) Heads of State Council on the Yntymak Ordo (Palace of Unity) presidential residence in Bishkek on November 27, 2025.
Alexander Kazakov | Afp | Getty Photos
Russian President Vladimir Putin has damaged his silence on a U.S.-backed peace plan to finish the conflict in Ukraine, saying Moscow is prepared for “critical” discussions concerning the draft proposals.
Putin stated Thursday that the outlines of a fledgling peace plan that has been reached by the U.S. and Ukraine might be the idea of a deal that ends the just about four-year lengthy battle.
“Typically, we agree that this may be the idea for future agreements,” Putin stated in feedback made throughout a visit to Kyrgyzstan and translated by Reuters.
The president added that the U.S. seemed to be taking Russia’s place on a peace settlement “under consideration” and that Moscow was prepared for “critical discussions” when U.S. particular envoy Steve Witkoff travels to Moscow subsequent week for talks.
It is the primary time Putin has publicly addressed a peace plan since a flurry of diplomacy between the U.S. and Ukraine in the previous few days. These talks got here after stories final week of a U.S.-Russia devised 28-point peace plan, which appeared to closely favor Russia’s calls for.
Ukraine and its European allies’ scrambled to mount a response, amending the plan and inserting counter proposals which have been mentioned in Geneva final weekend with a U.S. delegation led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
All eyes on Russia
The present draft plan, which has reportedly been slimmed right down to 19 key proposals, seems to have acquired Ukraine’s tentative backing, placing the ball again in Russia’s court docket as as to if it may settle for the framework and construct upon it.
On Wednesday, Putin’s shut aide Yuri Ushakov had claimed that Russia had not even seen an official model of the newest U.S.-backed draft deal for Ukraine, however that it had seen an unofficial model.
Relating to the plan it had seen, Ushakov stated the Kremlin considered some facets of the plan positively whereas “a number of of its factors require critical evaluation.”
Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy international minister, stated Moscow welcomed U.S. efforts on peace proposals however stated “there aren’t any concessions on key points on the Ukraine settlement,” suggesting there might be a long way to journey earlier than a deal is definitely reached.
Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov warned on Wednesday towards leaping to conclusions relating to an finish to the conflict, which Russia launched when it invaded Ukraine in Feb. 2022.
“Wait. It is too early to say that,” Peskov informed reporters, state information company TASS reported, when requested whether or not this was the closest Russia and Ukraine had ever been to concluding a peace settlement.
Putin on Thursday praised Russian advances in Ukraine and informed reporters that the preventing in Ukraine would cease solely when Ukrainian troops withdraw from their positions in key areas.
If they didn’t achieve this, then Russian forces would obtain their goals by pressure, he added, showing to counsel that Moscow was not keen to surrender one in all its key goals within the conflict (and contained inside the preliminary peace plan secretly drafted with the U.S.) which was to have full management of Ukraine’s japanese Donbas area.
CNBC has contacted the Kremlin for additional remark and is awaiting a response.
Ukraine on board, tentatively
A number of retailers reported Tuesday {that a} Ukrainian delegation that had held talks with U.S. officers in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday appeared to tentatively assist the idea of a U.S.-backed peace plan — although key particulars remained unresolved.
ABC Information and CBS Information each reported an unnamed U.S. official had stated that the Ukrainians “have agreed” to the deal, whereas including there have been nonetheless factors that needed to be ironed out. It was unclear if each tales quoted the identical U.S. official.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated later Tuesday that Kyiv was able to advance the peace framework, Reuters reported, citing a replica of a speech the president gave to a coalition of allied international locations.
U.S. President Donald Trump stated on the White Home on Tuesday, “I feel we’re getting very near a deal. We’ll discover out … I feel we’re making progress.”
In a Reality Social put up later Tuesday afternoon, Trump stated, “there are only some remaining factors of disagreement.”
