Putin sends signal to Trump on Ukraine proposals

MOSCOW, (Agencies): Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy aide spoke to members of the US administration after Moscow received US proposals about a possible Ukrainian peace deal, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Kremlin foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, spoke by telephone to several members of the administration of US President Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He did not say when the call took place.

Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev brought paper copies of US proposals for peace back to Moscow after a meeting in Miami at the weekend - and the details were being analysed by the Kremlin, Peskov said.

"The information was analysed, and on behalf of President Putin, contact took place between representatives of the administrations of Russia and the United States," Peskov said. "It was agreed to continue the dialogue."

When asked how the Kremlin viewed the documents, Peskov said that he did not want to comment as Russia felt making remarks in public could undermine the negotiations.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that Putin told some of Russia's top businessmen that he might be open to swapping some territory controlled by Russian forces in Ukraine but that he wanted the whole of Donbas.

Asked about the report, Peskov said that the Ukrainian peace discussions were touched upon "in general" and mentioned at the meeting. He gave no further details on the details of what was discussed.

Earlier, President Vladimir Putin told some of Russia's top businessmen that he might be open to swapping some territory controlled by Russian forces in Ukraine but that he wanted the whole of Donbas, the Kommersant newspaper reported.

Andrei Kolesnikov, the Kremlin correspondent for the Kommersant, one of Russia's top newspapers, said that Putin briefed top businessmen on the details of the plan at a late-night Kremlin meeting on December 24.

"Vladimir Putin asserted that the Russian side is still ready to make the concessions that he made in Anchorage. In other words, that 'Donbas is ours,'" Kommersant reported.

In essence, Putin wants the whole of Donbas but outside that area "a partial exchange of territories from the Russian side is not ruled out," Kolesnikov wrote in the newspaper.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in remarks to reporters released by his office on Wednesday, said Ukrainian and US delegations had inched closer to finalising a 20-point plan at the talks over the weekend in Miami.

But Zelenskiy said Ukraine and the United States had not found common ground on demands that Ukraine cede the parts of Donbas that it still controls - or on the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is controlled by Russian forces.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to end the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two and his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner have been negotiating with Russia, Ukraine and European powers.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that he planned to meet US President Donald Trump tomorrow (Sunday) to discuss territory and security guarantees with him as they search for ways to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

"This meeting is specifically for the purpose of finalising everything as much as we can," Zelenskiy said.