Putin may agree to withdraw from two regions of Ukraine but will demand its neutrality, according to Reuters.

This is reported by Reuters citing anonymous sources.

According to them, Putin may agree to freeze the conflict along the front line with Trump's mediation, although the Kremlin officially denied such a possibility.

Moreover, some Reuters sources suggest the potential for negotiations regarding the precise distribution of the four eastern regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

At the same time, concerning the two other regions where Russia holds a small territory—Kharkiv and Mykolaiv—sources claim that Russia may be open to withdrawing its troops from there.

This way, Putin could present the Russians with a ceasefire agreement, under which Russia would retain most of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson as a victory, ensuring the "protection of the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine." However, Russia is not prepared to discuss the fate of Crimea in the negotiations.

Russian sources for Reuters believe that the ceasefire agreement may resemble a draft agreement that was worked on during the negotiations in Istanbul in 2022.

However, the conclusion of an agreement may be hindered by the current U.S. President Joe Biden's authorization for long-range ATACMS missile strikes against Russia. Reuters reports that if a ceasefire is not reached, Russia will continue to fight.

What does Putin demand?

Statements from the Russian leader and his representatives have repeatedly portrayed Russia as ready for negotiations to resolve the war in Ukraine, which supposedly are not happening because Kyiv does not want them.

In reality, Putin demands Kyiv's renunciation of NATO membership and international recognition of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions, and Crimea as Russian territories.

At the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), it was stated that accepting the Russian leader's conditions would imply that Ukraine's territorial integrity is open for discussion. This precedent would provide the Kremlin an opportunity to push for further territorial concessions from Ukraine and generally challenge the idea of Ukrainian statehood.

Former Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba mentioned that Ukraine is ready for a negotiation process with Russia "at a certain stage," when Russia is prepared to conduct them in good faith. So far, such readiness has not been observed from the Russian side, Kuleba noted.