Freeze the front line in Ukraine and then negotiate: With this initiative, US President Trump aims to get the talks moving. He is receiving support from Europe. The Kremlin, however, is sticking to its maximum demands.
In the struggle to end the war against Ukraine, US President Donald Trump is proposing that Russian and Ukrainian troops cease fighting at their current positions along the front. However, the Russian government continues to firmly reject such a freezing of the front line."To simply stop like that means forgetting the root causes of this conflict," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to the state news agency Tass.
Trump's move would mean a ceasefire, as long demanded by Ukraine and its Western backers. Lavrov said, however, that this idea contradicts the agreements reached at the Russian-American summit in Alaska in August. The meeting between Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin there failed to produce any tangible results.
Kremlin insists on territorial cessions
However, after the Alaska summit, the US president backed away from his call for an immediate ceasefire as a basis for peace negotiations. Observers viewed this as a success for Moscow. European supporters of Ukraine accuse the Kremlin of delaying tactics: By demanding more comprehensive negotiations, Putin is seeking to prevent a ceasefire and instead continue the fighting.
The Kremlin leader has so far stuck to his maximum demands in the war of aggression that has been going on for more than three and a half years. According to them, Ukraine should renounce NATO membership and completely cede the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia, in addition to the Crimean peninsula – including territories still controlled by Ukraine. Lavrov also reiterated Moscow's declared war aim of overthrowing the government in Kyiv.
Is Putin playing for time?
In contrast to the Russian leadership, Germany, France, Great Britain, Ukraine, and other states support the demand to use the current front line as the starting point for negotiations. A joint statement by nine heads of state and government, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz, states:"We strongly support President Trump's position that the fighting should cease immediately and the current contact line should be the starting point for negotiations."
Ukraine is the only party serious about peace."We all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction," the statement continues. Ukraine must be in the strongest possible position at all times—"before, during, and after a ceasefire."
In their statement, the heads of state and government clearly oppose any territorial concessions by Ukraine to Russia. Putin is playing for time and slowing down diplomatic efforts. The states remain"committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force."
Trump's zigzag course
Trump has repeatedly made contradictory statements about ways to end the war. In addition to proposing a freeze on the front lines, he recently again advocated for Ukraine to relinquish territory to end the bloodshed. Regarding the Donbass region, which is partially occupied by Russia, he said:"Let it remain divided as it is now."
The US president had already floated the idea of a "territory swap" in August. At the end of September, he declared that he believed Ukraine could recapture all the territories occupied by Russia. Yesterday, however, he said he doubted Ukraine could win the war.
Last week, Trump announced his intention to meet with Putin again, this time in Budapest. However, Moscow dampened expectations that this meeting would take place anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is attempting to increase pressure on the Russian economy by attacking Russian energy infrastructure. Western leaders also announced that they are developing measures to further leverage frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. Further discussions will take place at the EU summit this week, before talks by the"Coalition of the Willing" led by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
