U.S. President Donald Trump has disclosed that ongoing peace talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict may involve “dividing up certain assets,” including discussions around land and infrastructure such as power plants.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from his weekend at Mar-a-Lago, Trump indicated that negotiations have made notable progress and revealed plans to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, March 18.
“We’re doing pretty well, I think, with Russia,” Trump said. “We’ll see if we have something to announce. I’ll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday. A lot of work’s been done over the weekend—we want to see if we can bring that war to an end.”
He added that discussions are touching on key issues, including territorial control and major assets affected by the war.
“We’ll be talking about land… we’ll be talking about power plants. That’s a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed by both sides—Ukraine and Russia. We’re already talking about dividing up certain assets.”
The comments follow Trump’s announcement last week that Ukraine had accepted a U.S.-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, shifting attention to Russia’s willingness to come to the negotiating table.
However, Putin’s response to the proposal has been cautious. While Moscow has reportedly agreed to the ceasefire “in theory,” the Kremlin has outlined tough conditions and reiterated its stance on the need for concessions from Kyiv.
Putin has also repeated his view that the current Ukrainian government remains a root cause of the ongoing conflict.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 escalated the conflict that began with the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
According to analysis from the Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine has since lost about 11% of its territory.
The prospect of Ukraine ceding land remains one of the most contentious points in the peace process.
While some U.S. officials have suggested territorial compromise may be necessary to end the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has consistently rejected such concessions.