Putin rejected the proposed US peace plan and received a "gift" from Trump - ft

Last week, Russian high -ranking officials declared the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation Steve Witkoff that their leader does not want to discuss the peace plan developed with the participation of Ukraine and Europe with 22 points. Three knowledgeable sources said that these 22 points were discussed in detail the next day during a telephone conversation between Ukraine and the US.

Ukraine was then represented by Presidential Office Andriy Yermak and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and the United States - Vitcoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Special Representative Kit Kellogg. Unnamed interlocutors reported that, having received such a response from Russia, Vitcoff postponed previous plans to meet Putin. However, another source said there was no trip to the plans. In the following days, according to the media, the pace of diplomatic activity accelerated.

European and Ukrainian leaders have met to call for a 30 -day truce and warn Putin about new sanctions. However, the Kremlin's head rejected the requirement that the United States supported, returning with his own counter -proposition of direct negotiations. US President Donald Trump congratulated the idea of ​​meeting in Istanbul, urging the Ukrainian leader to participate.

Volodymyr Zelensky adhered to a request and summoned Putin for a personal meeting, but he refused, sending a delegation instead. Officials, acquaintances with the negotiation process, emphasized that Putin went to great risk, pushing Washington to a peaceful offer and then refusing to arrive. However, as noted in the publication, the refusal does not meet much resistance. The most striking feature of this was Trump's statement that nothing will happen until he personally talks to Putin.

These words simultaneously justified the absence of the President of the Russian Federation for a meeting and questioned the meaning of Ukraine's direct negotiations with Russia. "It was a gift of Putin, who has long sought to meet face-to-face with a president, set to normalize US-Russian relations," the media emphasized. The unnamed high -ranking European diplomat explained that Putin was doing "exactly as much" to convince Trump of his efforts on his part to achieve peace.

At the same time, he controls that his efforts do not actually give any results. "And Trump is bought on it," the diplomat added. Recall that US President Donald Trump said that only he can personally end the war in Ukraine. According to him, Russian troops could capture Kiev in a few hours, if it were not for the mud. The media has published a list of requirements that Russia made during negotiations in Istanbul.