Russia reiterated previous Ukraine peace terms to US in private communique
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Ukrainian service members riding a tank in Donbas region, Ukraine.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON/FRANKFURT - Russia reiterated its previous terms for reaching a peace deal with Ukraine in a private communique sent to the US over the weekend known as a "non paper," according to two US officials and a person familiar with the situation.
The communique reiterated Russia's demand that it take control of all of Ukraine's Donbas region, one of the US officials said, a stance that effectively rejects Mr Trump's view that the frontlines should be frozen at their prevailing locations.
Russia also reiterated its previous stance that no Nato troops be deployed to Ukraine as part of any peace agreement, one of the officials said.
News of the non paper - diplomatic speak for an informal document meant to communicate one party's position to another - comes as a proposed summit between Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest appears increasingly in doubt.
A White House official told Reuters on Oct 21 that there were no plans for that meeting "in the immediate future."
The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
The communique also underlined the degree to which Russia has stuck to maximalist demands on Ukraine.
Asked for comment on the non-paper, the White House pointed to Mr Trump’s comments to reporters on the afternoon of Oct 22, during which he said he had not made a determination about the summit, but that he did not want to have a “wasted meeting.”
He added that he thought a ceasefire along the current battle lines was still possible.
Mr Trump had a phone call with Mr Putin on Oct 16, after which he said the Budapest meeting would take place, possibly within the next two weeks.
At a private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Oct 24, Reuters and other media outlets reported that US officials pitched the Ukrainian leader on a Kremlin-proposed plan to give up the Donbas region in return for small parts of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
Mr Zelensky pushed back, and Mr Trump thereafter said publicly the prevailing frontlines should be frozen. REUTERS
