It's about territory. It's one of the important elements of any agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
It's one of the few details that have leaked out about the more than three-hour meeting that US President Donald Trump's envoy to the Ukraine conflict, Steve Witkoff, had with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in the Russian capital, Moscow. But both sides are talking about a summit between Trump and Putin soon.
There was no information on Thursday that the Russian president has accepted Trump's demand to agree to a ceasefire on Friday to avoid being punished with sanctions such as additional tariffs. Trump has threatened, among other things, to impose additional US tariffs on goods from countries that buy Russian oil.
On Wednesday, he announced an additional tariff of 25 percent on Indian goods because, according to Trump, India buys cheap Russian oil and resells it. This means that India will face a 50 percent US tariff in 21 days, Trump said on Wednesday.
He has mentioned that China could also be affected.
Putin has consistently refused to agree to a ceasefire unless Ukrainian forces withdraw from areas in Ukraine that Russia demands be incorporated into Russia. Ukraine says no to this.
But Putin has nevertheless managed to put so many pieces of advice in front of Steve Witkoff that he has made progress in the otherwise deadlocked process.
Now there is talk of an imminent summit between Putin and Trump, and perhaps also with the participation of Volodymyr Zelenskyj, the President of Ukraine.
And it's all about territory, even at a summit. This is stated by Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State. Fox News has spoken to him about the situation, and he says the United States now has a better understanding of what Russia is ready to do to end the war.
- For the first time - perhaps since this administration took office - we now have concrete examples of what Russia will ask for to end the war, Rubio says.
He then adds that key elements of any agreement will involve territory. It is not clear which territories he is talking about. Russia captured and annexed the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula in 2014. There are also four areas in war-torn eastern Ukraine that Russia has annexed. Those areas are only partially controlled by the Russians. Putin and his allies in the Kremlin have also said that they do not recognize Ukraine as a state.
For now, it seems that the result of the meeting between Witkoff and Putin is that diplomats have begun to find out whether there is a basis for a summit. If a summit between Trump and Putin takes place, it will be the first time since June 2021 that an American and Russian president have met.
At that time, then-US President Joe Biden met with Putin in Geneva. That was about eight months before Putin launched an attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since then, our part of the world has not been the same.
Rubio tells Fox News that there are "many obstacles" that need to be overcome before a summit can happen.
- Today was a good day, but we have a lot of work ahead of us. There are still many obstacles to overcome. We hope that in the next few days and hours - maybe weeks - we can do it, he says.
Trump was more upbeat about the prospect of a summit late Wednesday.
- There's a good chance there will be a meeting soon, he said, according to Reuters.
The New York Times reported that Trump spoke to several European leaders after the Witkoff-Putin meeting to brief them. Here, Trump is said to have said that he wants a summit with Putin followed by a meeting in which both Putin and Zelenskyy participate.
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