Putin ready to “freeze” Ukraine war: report

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to “freeze” the war in Ukraine on current front-lines, according to a report.

The development was reported by Reuters on Friday, citing four anonymous Russian sources familiar with the matter.

“Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire—to freeze the war,” a senior Russian source who has worked with Putin told the publication.

Newsweek couldn’t independently corroborate the report and has contacted Russia’s foreign ministry for comment by email.

The Context

The prospect of peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow has been raised multiple times, without success, since the Russian leader launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

What We Know

Reuters said it spoke with five sources who have worked with the Russian president at a senior level. The fifth source didn’t comment on halting the war in Ukraine on current front-lines.

Two of the sources said Putin believed he could sell Russia’s current gains in Ukraine as a Russian victory to the population.

Three of the publication’s sources said Putin wanted to avoid declaring a nationwide mobilization, which would likely be necessary should he hope to seize larger swathes of Ukrainian territory.

Putin’s popularity plummeted after he announced a “partial mobilization” of the population in the fall of 2022, one source said.

Neil Melvin, director of International Security Studies at British defense and security think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), previously told Newsweek that Putin’s propaganda message has meant that he “continues to walk a tightrope over the issue of mobilization.”

“Mass mobilization, which is becoming increasingly urgent given the attrition of Russian forces in Ukraine, would break this contract and bring home to families all across Russia the costs of the war,” he added.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Reuters Russia was open to talks and that Putin did not want “eternal war.”

Newsweek has contacted Ukraine’s foreign ministry and state department for comment by email.

Views

Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton told Newsweek in March that he believes Putin may be eyeing a ceasefire with Ukraine after the U.S. presidential election in November.

“What he may well do is wait until November and see who wins the election. And if it’s [Donald] Trump—because I think Putin will believe he’ll get a better deal from Trump—he may then say, ‘Why don’t we call a ceasefire along the existing front lines and negotiate from there,'” Bolton, a former United Nations ambassador who served as security adviser from 2018 to 2019 in ex-President Donald Trump‘s administration, said.

What’s Next?

Reuters’ sources said Putin is prepared to continue fighting if Ukraine and Kyiv fail to respond to his calls for a negotiated ceasefire that recognizes the current front lines on the battlefield.

The Kremlin has previously specified a few conditions that are non-negotiable for Russia, including that Ukraine must accept the September 2022 annexation of four of its regions—Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia—following referendums called by Putin that were deemed illegal by the international community.

Ukraine has said that any peace deal must invalidate the September 2022 annexations of its territory, and that the Crimean Peninsula, which Putin annexed in 2014, must once again be considered part of Ukraine.

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