Vladimir Putin is reportedly ready to end the war in Ukraine following nearly two years of brutal battles and thousands of lost lives. President Putin, who recently announced he will run for a fifth term in office, has quietly been pushing his diplomats to strike a ceasefire deal for months now, it has been claimed.
More than 10,000 civilians have been killed and more than 18,500 injured since the war began, according to the UN, in addition to tens of thousands of troops.
The revelation, reported in the New York Times, contradicts the Russian leader’s public statements on the war in recent days. On Tuesday, President Putin told a meeting of military generals that Russia would never give up its fight in Ukraine.
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He boasted that Russian troops were “doing what we want” amid Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive and faltering Western aid.
President Putin even dismissed talk of a negotiated ceasefire during his speech. However, the Russian leader has reportedly been seeking an end to the conflict since September.
Two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin told the New York Times that the Kremlin wants to freeze the war at the current boundary lines.
For months, the battlelines have remained largely the same, with Russia holding large parts of the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine.
This would mark a significantly scaled-back aim than what President Putin initially wanted. Russia had tried to seize Kyiv in the opening days of the war in February 2022.
Intelligence sources also fear that President Putin could quickly change his mind and tear up any ceasefire deal if his troops regain momentum in the conflict.
President Putin is understood to have one condition for the ceasefire – that he can declare public victory.
One international official who met with Russian counterparts late this year told the New York Times: “They say, ‘We are ready to have negotiations on a ceasefire’. They want to stay where they are on the battlefield.”
It is thought that President Putin wants to exploit the flagging support in the West as well as the distraction of the war in Gaza to pressure Ukraine into agreeing a ceasefire.
Ukraine would likely reject such an offer since President Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly pledged to take back all of Ukraine’s territory.
Kyiv’s last ceasefire proposal required Moscow to surrender all captured Ukrainian territory and pay damages.
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