Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Photo / Getty Images
The United States has promised Russia that Ukraine will give up territory as part of a peace settlement, Moscow’s foreign minister has said.
Sergei Lavrov said the Trump administration understood that “territories where Russians have lived for centuries should once again become part of Russia”.
Lavrov was referring to Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea – five Ukrainian territories that were illegally annexed by Vladimir Putin in 2022.
His comments came after US officials held talks with Ukrainian and European leaders in Berlin about a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
The US told Kyiv and its European allies to accept its “platinum” offer of security guarantees in exchange for ceding some territory to Russia.
Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the remainder of the Donbas region, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk, which is not currently under Russian military control.
Moscow has also insisted that Ukraine be barred from joining Nato, a request Lavrov said the US also understood.
“Our position is clear. The root causes of the conflict must be eliminated,” he said on Tuesday. “These include the threats to Russia created by Nato’s eastward expansion toward our borders and by efforts to draw Ukraine into the alliance.”
Lavrov added: “It is good that the US has understood this. They have clearly stated that Nato membership for Ukraine is unacceptable.”
Before peace talks in Berlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to give up Ukraine’s ambition to join Nato in exchange for security guarantees from the US and Europe.
The details of Washington’s “platinum” security guarantees offer are not clear, but are thought to resemble Nato’s Article 5 commitment.
This could mean that the US and Europe would provide direct military support to Ukraine in the event of a future Russian invasion.
But US officials also warned that such guarantees would “not be on the table forever”, in an apparent ultimatum to Zelenskyy to agree to the terms.
The US believes a deal to end the war is now closer than ever, with concessions over the Donbas region and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant the remaining sticking points to a settlement.
“I think we’re closer now than we have been ever,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday evening.
The US is now expected to go back to Moscow with the latest details of its negotiations with European leaders.
Meanwhile, on the front line, Ukrainian forces continued a counter-attack in the city of Kupyansk, where hundreds of Russian soldiers are thought to be surrounded – despite Putin previously claiming the settlement had been captured.
Viktor Trehubov, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said Kyiv’s troops had been freeing civilian hostages, including children, who had allegedly been used by Russian forces as human shields.
On Friday, Zelenskyy visited the embattled town in a display of strength to counter the narrative that Ukraine’s demise is inevitable.
Analysts believe Putin has been keen to claim early victories, including in cities such as Kupyansk and Pokrovsk, to project an image of strength and gain the upper hand in the peace negotiations.
On Monday, the Kremlin was forced to deny that a new Ukrainian drone had blown up a £300m ($696m) submarine that was carrying Kalibr cruise missiles.
A Russian defence ministry spokesman said: “Information being spread by special services of Ukraine about the purported ‘destruction’ of one of Russia’s submarines in Novorossiysk military-naval port is not consistent with reality.”
But Ukrainian media and military bloggers said they had confirmed that the submarine was hit and damaged by “Sub Sea Baby” drones.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.