Sources: Putin Open to Ceasefire Agreement with Trump

According to foreign media reports, five sources with knowledge of the Kremlin's thinking said Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to discussing a ceasefire agreement with Trump in Ukraine, but ruled out making any major territorial concessions and insisted that Kiev abandon its ambition to join NATO. Talking about what Putin would accept in any deal brokered with Trump, five sources said the Kremlin could broadly agree to freeze the conflict on the front lines. Three of the sources said there could be room for negotiations on the exact partition of the four eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson. Russia may also be willing to withdraw its troops from the relatively small territory of the Kharkiv and Nikolayev regions, which are located in northern and southern Ukraine, two sources said. However, Biden's permission for Ukraine to use American-made missiles to strike Russia's hinterland could complicate and delay any resolution. If a ceasefire is not reached, then Russia will continue to fight.