Washington also wants Moscow to return the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which it seized in 2022.
The US will demand that Russia accept Ukraine’s right to develop its own, adequately equipped, army and defence industry as part of a peace agreement, according to people familiar with the matter, pushing back on Russia’s insistence that the country largely demilitarise as a condition to end the war.
US envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Russia to raise the issue with President Vladimir Putin, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations.
It is a signal that President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking some concessions from the Kremlin, as well as Ukraine, as it tries to end a war that is now into its fourth year.
