Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The big unknown is, if Putin is actually willing to compromize on the Russian demands.
The diplomatic pushes for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine have so far proven unsuccessful, but things might be about to change.
In his evening address on May 10, the day after the Russian national holiday Victory Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his Russian counterpart seems willing to negotiate — for real this time.
During the evening broadcast, the Ukrainian leader addressed the nation. He noted that Kyiv has spent months preparing for this diplomatic moment.
“Now Putin himself says that he is finally ready for real meetings. We pushed him a little, and we have been preparing for meetings for a long time, so we need to find a format. We need to end this war, reliably guarantee security,” Zelensky said according to the Kyiv Post.
Finding neutral ground
Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly stated that the conflict was wrapping up. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico recently told reporters that Moscow expects a direct phone call from Kyiv to begin talks.
Deciding where to hold the summit remains a massive hurdle. The Kremlin offered to host the event, but Ukrainian officials flatly rejected that idea.
Presidential adviser Serhiy Leshchenko called the prospect of traveling to the Russian capital impossible. Zelensky prefers meeting in a completely neutral location.
Will Putin actually compromise?
Putin has presented various demands for ending the war in Ukraine, including independence for Russian-annexed Ukrainian regions, the “de-Nazification” and “demilitarisation” of Ukraine, a new Ukrainian government, and a Ukrainian withdrawal from the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, just to name a few.
As recently as November 2025, the BBC cited Putin as saying that Russia would lay down its arms only if Ukraine withdrew from Donbas.
But as the war drags on and Ukraine has proven able to strike deep inside Russian territory, Putin might be beginning to realise that achieving all of Russia’s war goals will be too costly for the Kremlin, especially as Russia becomes increasingly isolated on the global stage.
The big unknown is which, if any, of the Russian demands Putin will be willing to compromise on.
The 28-point plan
In November 2025, a US-Russia-brokered 28-point peace plan for Ukraine came to light. It included a cap on the Ukrainian armed forces, a constitutional commitment that Ukraine would never join NATO, a ban on NATO troops in Ukraine — even as part of a peacekeeping force — and recognition of the Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk as Russian territory.
In response to the 28-point plan, European countries released a counterproposal that removed the US-Russian proposal to recognise Ukrainian territories as Russian, among other changes. The Kremlin rejected the counterproposal.
Sources: Office of the President of Ukraine, Kremlin Press Service, Government of the Slovak Republic, Kyiv Post, BBC, Reuters, The Kyiv Independent, Kyiv Post
