Russia under pressure as Ukraine peace talks shift to Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
Grigory Sysoyev | Afp | Getty Images
All eyes are on Russia this week as talks on a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine shift to Moscow.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling to Russia on Monday and will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the US-backed 19-point peace plan.
Ukraine tentatively supported the fledgling peace proposals, leaving the ball in Russia’s court on whether the framework agreement would work.
The latest plan is a modified version of the first 28-item plan announced a few weeks ago, prepared by the United States and Moscow without the participation of Ukraine and favoring Russia.
After intense diplomacy and discussions between US and Ukrainian officials last week and talks in Florida on Sunday, Russia will be eager to have a say on the amended proposals.
Whether Putin will play ball when it comes to a new peace plan is a big unknown; Russia thinks it not only has the advantage on the battlefield but also has U.S. President Donald Trump’s ear when it comes to the outlines of a future peace deal.
The Kremlin confirmed that Witkoff and Putin will meet on Tuesday.
Will Putin play ball?
Putin and Kremlin officials have so far reacted cautiously to the amended peace plan, signaling that Russia is ready to talk. But the war in Ukraine may not have to end anytime soon.
“We generally agree that this can be the basis for future agreements,” Putin said during his visit to Kyrgyzstan. He added that the United States was “taking into account” Russia’s position on the peace agreement and that Moscow was ready for “serious talks” with Witkoff.
In this pool photo distributed by Russian government agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Heads of the State Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) at the Yntymak Ordo (Unity Palace) presidential residence in Bishkek on November 27, 2025.
Alexander Kazakov | Afp | Getty Images
But Putin also praised Russia’s advances in Ukraine and told reporters that fighting there would only stop when Ukrainian troops withdraw from their positions in key regions.
Putin said that if they did not do so, Russian forces would achieve their objectives by force; This seems to indicate that Moscow is not willing to give up one of its key goals of gaining full control over Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
Russian military bloggers are skeptical that Putin will budge on territorial claims to Ukraine, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said in an analysis Sunday.
“Voices in the Russian information space continue to argue that the Kremlin will likely reject a ceasefire or any iteration of the US-proposed peace plan because the Kremlin sees these efforts as unimportant and an obstacle to Russia’s goals in Ukraine and globally,” ISW analysts wrote Sunday. he said.
‘Delicate’ process
The lead-up to the latest diplomatic scramble for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia follows some hesitation from the White House about its stance on how the war should end and what concessions are needed for a ceasefire.
President Trump has been ambivalent about his support for Ukraine, appearing at times to: To support Russian demands that Ukraine cede occupied territories to Moscow as part of a peace agreement. He later backtracked by stating that Kiev’s forces could regain all their territory, muddying the waters as to where he stood on the peace agreement.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after talks with Ukrainian officials in Florida on Sunday that the process towards a peace agreement was “delicate” and that Russia’s position should be taken into account in any agreement.
He said the four-hour talks, which included Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as a Ukrainian delegation led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Ustem Rumerov, were productive, but there was more work to be done.
“There’s a lot of work left, but today was again a very productive and helpful session, and I think additional progress was made,” Rubio told reporters after the talks. he said.
