This week, Donald Trump underscored that dangerous potential when he announced plans for a meeting between himself and Russian President Vladimir Putin, tentatively scheduled for next Friday in Alaska. Moscow could settle for a lengthy, bunting-draped cease fire if the former U.S. president gets his way. He thinks it will almost certainly include an exchange of lands. This revelation comes at a time of major escalation and increasing tensions in the war. Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna tragically died in Russian captivity last year.
During a press briefing, Trump stated, “We’re gonna get some [territory] back. We’re gonna get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both.” These comments led to renewed hope of a new round of talks intended to bring an end to the conflict that has raged since 2014.
Yuri Ushakov, another senior Putin aide, has confirmed the date and location for the meeting. In addition to that, he did mention that there have been conversations regarding a potential location in Moscow, but details still week out. Meanwhile, Putin expressed hesitance regarding a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stating that certain conditions must first be met.
Kyiv has remained silent thus far on the idea of talks or on the concept of territorial swaps. The stakes could hardly be higher. Indeed, Zelenskyy has indicated that Russian military personnel have not been ordered to stop their attack on Ukraine. He emphasized the ongoing nature of the conflict, stating, “No orders to stop have been given to the Russian army.”
Amongst these welcomed developments, our international observers report signs that a freeze in hostilities may be on the near horizon. Donald Tusk, the former president of the European Council, remarked, “There are certain signals, and we have an intuition, that [perhaps a freeze in the conflict – I don’t want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict – is closer than it is further away.”
Yet, these negotiations take place in a grim context. Our colleague Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was killed in this war, had written extensively about Russia’s policies on extrajudicial detention and torture. Anything but a single-note memorial Roshchyna was buried in Kyiv, part of the growing human toll from Russia’s current war on Ukraine.