Amid a grinding fourth year of war and multiple stalled diplomatic efforts, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signalled a familiar but hardening stance on ending the conflict, that has claimed thousands of lives. The Russian President has now said that Moscow will halt its offensive only if Ukrainian forces withdraw from territories Russia claims as its own.
“If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations,” Putin said during a visit to Kyrgyzstan on Thursday (November 27, 2025). “If they don’t, we will achieve it by military means.” This comes a few months after Putin’s meeting with his American counterpart Donald Trump in Alaska, however, their rendezvous failed to yield any result.
Russian forces have been advancing slowly but steadily in eastern Ukraine, pushing through attritional battles in Donetsk and surrounding areas. According to analysis from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russia has seized an average of 467 square kilometres per month in 2025, a notable increase from the previous year.
Russia-Ukraine conflict: How has the battlefield shifted the negotiation landscape?
Putin claimed that Russian troops had “completely encircled” Ukrainian forces around Pokrovsk and Myrnograd, though Kyiv denies this, insisting its units still hold the line along the 1,100-kilometre front. Just a few days back, Moscow said that its forces had captured three more villages in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s latest advances came ahead of talks in Geneva to discuss US President Trump’s plan to end the nearly four-year war.
Is Washington’s new peace plan any more realistic?
The US has renewed its diplomatic push to end the war, presenting a revised peace plan after earlier drafts were criticised by Kyiv and European allies. The original proposal, drafted largely without Europe’s input, suggested Ukrainian withdrawals from parts of Donetsk and de facto US recognition of Russian control over Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk.
Following backlash, the US shortened and softened the plan to roughly 20 points. Putin said the latest draft could be “a basis for further agreements,” though he reiterated that Russia wants international recognition of occupied territories, a demand Kyiv has consistently rejected.
US negotiator Steve Witkoff is expected in Moscow next week to discuss the document, while US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is due in Kyiv for consultations.
Why does Kyiv insist there will be no territorial concessions?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, firmly dismissed the idea of ceding land. “As long as Zelensky is president, no one should count on us giving up territory,” he told The Atlantic. Yermak stated the only realistic subject for discussion now is “defining the line of contact”.
His remarks signalled that Kyiv may accept talks about the current battlefield situation but not formal territorial handovers.
Meanwhile, Putin has questioned the legality of Zelensky’s presidency, claiming that signing a treaty with him would be “almost impossible.” Kyiv and its allies have dismissed this as an attempt to derail negotiations before they even begin.
Russia-Ukraine war: Can it finally be stopped after so many failed efforts?
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the largest European conflict since World War II, hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions displaced. Numerous diplomatic channels, including early talks in Istanbul, the 2023 G20-led initiatives, and multiple Western-backed proposals, have collapsed over the issue of territory.
With Moscow advancing and Washington trying to salvage a new peace framework, the coming weeks of talks may decide whether this remains another failed attempt or a rare opening in a war.