Washington and Moscow are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Russia's occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
U.S. and Russian officials are working towards an agreement on territories for a planned summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as early as next week, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. is working to get buy-in from Ukraine and allies in Europe on the deal, which is not yet certain, the people added.
The Russian leader is reportedly demanding that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region, as well as Crimea, which his forces illegally annexed in 2014.
Such a deal would require Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to order a removal of troops from parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions still held by Kyiv, which would be seen as handing Russia a victory that its military was not able to achieve by force since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
