President Trump says he wants to “make a deal” to “STOP this ridiculous war” in Ukraine. His call with President Vladimir V. Putin, and a meeting expected this week between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, have raised expectations that negotiations could end three years of fighting.
But how would those talks actually work? Who would be involved? What could a deal look like?
The New York Times has been reporting on these questions since the early weeks of the war in 2022, when Ukraine and Russia held direct talks that failed to reach a peace agreement.
To sum up what we know at this point, here’s our guide to potential Ukraine peace talks.
Right now, Ukraine has few options for reversing Russia’s recent gains on the battlefield. That means that any deal is likely to involve painful concessions by Ukraine, which could be seen as Mr. Trump’s rewarding Mr. Putin’s aggression. It also means that Russia will almost certainly drive a hard bargain.
But Mr. Putin may have his own incentives for making a deal. Russia’s economy risks runaway inflation amid enormous spending on the war, while the military is suffering some 1,000 or more casualties a day. And a settlement over Ukraine could pave the way for a reduction of Western sanctions.
The talks would be exceedingly complicated. Many doubt that Mr. Putin will negotiate in good faith, while Europe and Ukraine fear that Mr. Trump will be tempted to strike a deal with the Kremlin over their heads.
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