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Vladimir Putin’s suggestion of Ukraine ceasefire rejected by US: Russian sources

  • Moscow sent signals to US in 2023 through intermediaries, Russian sources said
  • The deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II is grinding into its third year

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A fire in Kharkiv, Ukraine after a Russian strike. Photo: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s suggestion of a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war was rejected by the United States after contacts between intermediaries, three Russian sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.

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The failure of Putin’s approach ushers in a third year of the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II and illustrates just how far apart the world’s two largest nuclear powers remain.

A US source denied there had been any official contact and said Washington would not engage in talks that did not involve Ukraine.

Putin sent signals to Washington in 2023 in public and privately through intermediaries, including through Moscow’s Arab partners in the Middle East and others, that he was ready to consider a ceasefire in Ukraine, the Russian sources said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview with US television host Tucker Carlson in Moscow. Photo: Sputnik via Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview with US television host Tucker Carlson in Moscow. Photo: Sputnik via Reuters

Putin was proposing to freeze the conflict at the current lines and was unwilling to cede any of the Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia, but the signal offered what some in the Kremlin saw as the best path towards a peace of some kind.

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