&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Putin’s first real compromise? Russia agrees to 'rare' concessions on five Ukrainian regions central to the war")
Russian President Vladimir Putin made concessions on his long-standing demand for Ukrainian “land swaps” during his summit with US President Donald Trump in Alaska, according to Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff did not provide exact details but suggested Moscow is now considering swaps based on the current front lines rather than the official administrative borders of several contested regions.
“The Russians made some concessions at the table with regard to all five of those regions,” Witkoff said. He added that the issue would be raised with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he visits the White House. “Hopefully we can cut through and make some decisions right then and there,” he said.
How big a shift is this from Russia?
Witkoff described the move as the first sign of flexibility from Moscow, but stressed that it was still short of a full peace deal. “It was significant. And, that doesn’t mean it’s enough,” he said. “The point was that we began to see some moderation in the way they’re thinking about getting to a final peace deal,” he added. Putin has allegedly demanded that Ukraine cede Donetsk and Luhansk in the east as a condition to end the war, while agreeing to freeze the current battle lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.
What about security guarantees for Ukraine?
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The envoy also revealed that Putin accepted a separate proposal allowing the United States and European allies to give Ukraine “Article 5-like” security guarantees, language similar to NATO’s collective defence principle. “We got to an agreement that the United States and other European nations could effectively offer Article 5-like language to cover a security guarantee,” Witkoff said.
He explained that this approach sidestepped Russia’s red line on NATO membership, “So Putin has said that a red flag is NATO admission. And so what we were discussing was assuming that that held, assuming that the Ukrainians could agree to that… we were able to win the following concession: that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection.”
Witkoff noted it was “the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that,” framing it as one of the most important outcomes of the Alaska talks.
