The United States is reportedly prepared to recognize Russia's control over Crimea and other Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russian forces as part of a proposed peace deal to end the nearly four-year war.
The move would mark a major shift in longstanding U.S. policy and break with Washington's refusal since 2014 to legitimize Russia's territorial claims, The Telegraph reported Friday.
The report says President Donald Trump has dispatched peace envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner to Moscow to present the offer directly to Vladimir Putin. Moscow confirmed Friday it had received a revised U.S. strategy after emergency talks with Ukrainian and American officials in Geneva last weekend.
While a 28-point plan drafted earlier by Witkoff included "de facto" U.S. recognition of Crimea and the Donbas regions, sources told The Telegraph that American offers of recognition remain part of the latest 19-point proposal.
Putin has publicly signaled that U.S. legal recognition of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk as Russian territory is a key condition for any agreement.
Kyiv, however, continues to reject territorial concessions outright, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak reiterating that "not a single sane person" would sign away Ukrainian land and that the constitution prohibits ceding territory without a national referendum.
European allies have raised alarm over the reported American offer, stressing after a meeting this week that "borders must not be changed by force."
A European counter-proposal makes no mention of recognizing Russian control and insists territorial issues be resolved only after a full ceasefire.
The latest negotiations leave several core disputes unresolved, including the status of Russian-held regions in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Those issues are expected to be addressed only in direct talks between Trump and Zelenskyy, though the Ukrainian leader has not yet committed to travel to the United States.
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