The US will demand that Russia accept Ukraine’s right to develop its own, adequately equipped, army and defence industry as part of a peace agreement, according to people familiar with the matter, pushing back on Russia’s insistence that the country largely demilitarise as a condition to end the war.
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US envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Russia to raise the issue with President Vladimir Putin, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations.
It is a signal that President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking some concessions from the Kremlin, as well as Ukraine, as it tries to end a war that is now into its fourth year. Critics have so far viewed the US proposals as tilted towards Russia, including the Trump administration’s insistence that Ukraine give up its aspirations to join the Nato military alliance.
Agreeing to let Kyiv maintain its military, as demanded by Ukraine and its European allies, would mean Putin would have to give up on his announced goal for a “demilitarisation” of the country, one of his main stated war aims. The outcome on that issue may depend on Russia’s willingness to let Ukraine independently determine the scope of its future forces.
As part of a draft agreement discussed in the weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, Putin’s government proposed putting strict limits on the future size of Ukraine’s military in a move that critics said would have left it helpless in the face of future threats. Those proposals would have seen the size of Ukraine’s army reduced by more than half. Its number of tanks, artillery and rocket launchers also would have been slashed.
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The Trump administration also wants Moscow to return Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which it seized early in its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022. The facility would then fall under US control to administer energy to both sides, said the people. They added that details of the plans had yet to be completed and could still change.