Trump-Putin Talks To Focus On ‘Land, Power Plants’ As Ukraine Ceasefire Negotiators Discuss ‘Dividing Up Assets’

<p>United States President Donald Trump on Sunday said that negotiators working to end the Russia-Ukraine war have already discussed &ldquo;dividing up certain assets.&rdquo; He also announced that he would speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to push for a resolution to the conflict. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One while returning to Washington after his weekend at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing pretty well, I think, with Russia. We&rsquo;ll see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday, I&rsquo;ll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday&rdquo;, CNN reported.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;A lot of work&rsquo;s been done over the weekend, we want to see if we can bring that war to an end,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Maybe we can, maybe we can&rsquo;t, but I think we have a very good chance.&rdquo; &nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong> Trump Says Talks With Putin To Focus On Land And Power Plants &nbsp;</strong></h3>
<p>Trump stated that negotiations had already identified key topics for discussion. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be talking about land. A lot of land is a lot different than it was before the war, as you know. We&rsquo;ll be talking about land, we&rsquo;ll be talking about power plants, that&rsquo;s a big question,&rdquo; he said, as quoted by CNN. &nbsp;</p>
<p>He further added that discussions had already covered the division of assets between Ukraine and Russia. &ldquo;But I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much, by both sides, Ukraine and Russia. We&rsquo;re already talking about that &ndash; dividing up certain assets.&rdquo; &nbsp;</p>
<p>According to a Reuters report, the talks are expected to prominently feature territorial concessions by Kyiv and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin and Trump would speak on Tuesday but declined to comment on Trump&rsquo;s remarks about land and power plants. &nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong> Ukraine&rsquo;s Acceptance To 30-Day Ceasefire, Russia&rsquo;s Response &nbsp;</strong></h3>
<p>Trump&rsquo;s remarks come days after he announced that Ukraine had accepted a US-proposed 30-day ceasefire, leaving it to Russia to decide whether to accept the proposal to end the war. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Putin has responded ambiguously to the ceasefire plan. While he stated that Moscow agreed with the proposal in principle, he also set tough conditions, including territorial concessions from Kyiv. He reiterated that Ukraine&rsquo;s government was part of the &ldquo;root cause&rdquo; of the war. &nbsp;</p>
<p>According to CNN, American negotiators are set to continue talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives this week. The Kremlin previously stated that US negotiators would visit Russia for further discussions but did not provide details on the participants. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Russia first annexed parts of Ukraine in 2014 before launching a full-scale invasion in 2022, leading to the largest land conflict in Europe since World War Two. As of now, Ukraine has lost control of approximately 11% of its land, according to CNN&rsquo;s analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor. &nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong> Debate Over Territorial Concessions Amid Russia-Ukraine War</strong></h3>
<p>Territorial concessions remain a sensitive issue. While American officials have suggested that Ukraine may have to cede land to end the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has maintained that Ukraine&rsquo;s sovereignty is non-negotiable. European leaders have also expressed concerns that allowing Russia to keep occupied territories would set a dangerous precedent. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Trump&rsquo;s apparent willingness to offer Moscow concessions before negotiations have concluded has raised concerns among NATO allies. Some European leaders are now questioning whether the US remains committed to its long-standing security guarantees for the continent, CNN reported. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Trump&rsquo;s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, told CNN that the ongoing discussions were &ldquo;productive&rdquo; but did not clarify how territorial concessions would be resolved. Witkoff said that Putin &ldquo;accepts the philosophy of President Trump&rdquo; regarding ending the war and described his recent meeting with Putin as a &ldquo;solution-based discussion.&rdquo; He expressed confidence that a ceasefire could be reached within weeks. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Putin, in remarks on Friday, claimed that Russia was working to restore relations with the US, which he said had been &ldquo;practically reduced to zero, destroyed by the previous American administration.&rdquo; &nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Overall, the situation is starting to move,&rdquo; Putin added. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s see what comes out of this.&rdquo; &nbsp;</p>
<h3>US Officials Weigh In on Ukraine Peace Talks &nbsp;</h3>
<p>In separate television interviews on Sunday, senior US officials&mdash;including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz&mdash;acknowledged that major challenges remained before a peace deal could be finalised. &nbsp;</p>
<p>When asked whether the US would accept a deal in which Russia retained control of Ukrainian territory, Waltz said on ABC, &ldquo;We have to ask ourselves, is it in our national interest? Is it realistic?&hellip; Are we going to drive every Russian off of every inch of Ukrainian soil?&rdquo; &nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We can talk about what is right or wrong but also have to talk about the reality of the situation on the ground,&rdquo; he added, cautioning that the alternative to compromise could be &ldquo;endless warfare&rdquo; or even &ldquo;World War Three.&rdquo; &nbsp;</p>
<h3>Russia&rsquo;s Demands and European Reactions &nbsp;</h3>
<p>Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko stated that Moscow would seek &ldquo;ironclad&rdquo; guarantees in any agreement, including Ukraine&rsquo;s exclusion from NATO membership and a commitment to neutrality. &nbsp;</p>
<p>While Putin claims Russia&rsquo;s actions are aimed at protecting its national security from NATO expansion, Ukraine and Western allies argue that Russia&rsquo;s invasion is an unprovoked act of aggression and territorial expansion. &nbsp;</p>
<p>The European Union&rsquo;s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, criticised Russia&rsquo;s ceasefire conditions, stating that they indicated Moscow was not genuinely interested in peace, as per Reuters. &nbsp;</p>
<p>British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday that Western allies, apart from the US, were preparing contingency plans to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. He confirmed that defence leaders would finalise &ldquo;robust plans&rdquo; next week. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Britain and France have expressed willingness to send a peacekeeping force to monitor any ceasefire in Ukraine. However, Russia has ruled out such a presence until the war is formally ended. &nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;If they appear there, it means that they are deployed in the conflict zone with all the consequences for these contingents as parties to the conflict,&rdquo; Grushko warned, as quoted by Reuters. While he did not rule out unarmed observers or a civilian monitoring mission, he dismissed current discussions as &ldquo;hot air.&rdquo; &nbsp;</p>