-
Trump and Putin Discuss Proposal... Asset and Land Division the Focus of Upcoming Talks
-
The crisis in the Kursk region emerges as a critical pressure factor on the Ukrainian side, with ongoing leadership changes in the Ukrainian army in response to accelerating field developments on the
US President Donald Trump said early Monday that he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, adding: "We may announce something about Russia and Ukraine tomorrow."
Trump told reporters - aboard the presidential plane during a return flight to Washington from Florida - about "dividing some assets" between Russia and Ukraine, indicating that land and power stations will be the focus of the agreement between Russia and Ukraine, explaining: "A lot of work has been done over the weekend... we want to see an end to this war."
The American president added: "We want to see if we can end that war, maybe we can, maybe we can't, but I think we have a very good chance."
When asked about the concessions being considered in the ceasefire negotiations, Trump stated "We will talk about the land, we will talk about power plants," adding: "I think a lot of these things have already been discussed extensively between the parties, Ukraine and Russia, we are already talking about dividing some assets."
Later on Monday, the Kremlin confirmed that President Putin will speak by phone with his American counterpart Donald Trump.
Trump is seeking Putin's support for a 30-day ceasefire proposal accepted by Ukraine last week, while both sides continued to exchange intensive airstrikes at the beginning of the week, and Russia approached expelling Ukrainian forces from the area it has controlled for months in Kursk, western Russia.
Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin for several hours days ago, told CNN on Sunday that he believes "the two presidents will have a good and positive discussion this week."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described his phone call with his Russian counterpart as "promising," in a statement Sunday morning to CBS.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday accused the Kremlin of not wanting to end the war, warning that the Russians "want to improve their position on the battlefield" before any potential ceasefire.
In response to the ceasefire proposal, Putin expressed that this initiative would be beneficial to Ukraine first and not the Russian forces that are "advancing" in many areas, and raised "serious questions" about the initiative.
Zelensky considered that Putin, by not agreeing to the ceasefire, was also against Trump who presented initiatives toward Russia, accusing Moscow of trying to find ways not to end the war. Zelensky accused Putin of "lying."
Coinciding with these developments, Zelensky replaced the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, according to a decree issued Sunday, where Anatoly Bargilevich was dismissed and Andrey Gnatov was appointed in his place, who was tasked with increasing the "effectiveness of vertical management" of forces and strengthening the "implementation" of decisions of the supreme command.
