Putin suggests no Ukraine compromise in meeting with US envoys

Detailed summary

MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin indicated Thursday (Nov 12) that Russia will not compromise on its hardline demands to end the Ukraine offensive, but offered a short-term ceasefire in a key frontline city during a Kremlin meeting with US envoys.The Russian president said he would not water down his demands to control parts of Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed and ruled out agreeing to foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine - a deployment that he said would be a "continuation of war".Washington's envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, were in Moscow after two days of talks in Abu Dhabi on ending Europe's worst conflict since World War II.

Usually held behind closed doors, the Kremlin chose to televise a lengthy opening exchange between Putin and the US envoys.The Russian leader rejected talk of a possible territorial settlement involving "grey" - or demilitarised - zones between Ukrainian and Russian positions."For us, there is only one line of demarcation: the state border. Because then it will be clear and obvious: here are we, and here are you," he said.Russia has seized swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine since launching its full-scale offensive in 2022, in addition to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and territory that was under the control of Russian-backed separatists.Moscow has formally annexed four regions of…

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