Putin calls US peace plan ‘basis’ for settlement in Ukraine – POLITICO

Russian President Vladimir Putin said late Friday that a U.S. proposal for a peace deal in Ukraine could be “the basis” of a resolution to Moscow’s war on Ukraine while warning that if Kyiv rejected the plan then Russian forces would advance farther.

“I believe that it can be used as the basis for a final peaceful settlement,” Putin told senior officials at a meeting of the Russian Security Council, according to media reports.

The 28-point framework titled “U.S.-Russia-drafted peace plan” would confirm Ukraine’s sovereignty but limit its armed forces to 600,000 personnel, hand a significant amount of Ukrainian territory to Russia and bar Kyiv from joining NATO permanently. NATO should agree to “not accept Ukraine at any moment in the future” and “not to deploy its troops in Ukraine,” according to the text.