Trump admits talks with Putin on Ukraine include “territorial divisions, etc.”

US President Donald Trump acknowledged on Friday evening, during a press briefing held at the White House, that “territorial divisions” are being discussed in the US-Russia negotiations regarding a peace agreement in Ukraine, CNN reports.

Trump said that, in his opinion, a complete ceasefire in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will very likely take place “extremely soon.” “We’re going to have a deal, and that deal is being negotiated right now,” Trump said.

“It’s a deal on territorial divisions, etcetera, etcetera, that’s being negotiated right now,” the US president said.

During the press briefing, Trump was asked whether he would impose new sanctions on Russia, given that the Russian military continued to massively bomb Ukrainian infrastructure, despite Putin’s promise of a 30-day truce in this regard. “Well, they’re fighting each other,” was Trump’s response. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

Also, in the fall of 2022, after the start of the ground invasion of Ukraine, Russia illegally annexed four other Ukrainian territories: the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.

Currently, these regions are all crossed by the front line and are all partially or almost entirely under the control of the Russian army. Until now, Ukrainian officials have considered Russia’s recognition of these regions as a “red line” that Kiev has no intention of crossing.

Donald Trump had a phone call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, March 18, following which the White House announced that Russia had agreed to stop attacks on Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure.

In return, the Kremlin announced that Russia had agreed to a ceasefire only regarding attacks on energy infrastructure. A day later, Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and promised him help in providing Ukraine with the anti-aircraft systems it needs.