Putin Wants Pledge to Halt NATO Expansion in Deal to End Ukraine War

Lifting of Sanctions, Resolution on Frozen Assets in the West Among Terms: Sources

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MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin's conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia, according to three Russian sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the deadliest European conflict since World War II and has shown increasing frustration with Mr. Putin in recent days, warning on May 27 that the Russian leader was "playing with fire" by refusing to engage in ceasefire talks with Kyiv as his forces made gains on the battlefield.

After speaking to Mr. Trump for more than two hours last week, Mr. Putin said that he had agreed to work with Ukraine on a memorandum that would establish the contours of a peace accord, including the timing of a ceasefire.

Russia says it is currently drafting its version of the memorandum and cannot estimate how long that will take.

Kyiv and European governments have accused Moscow of stalling while its troops advance in eastern Ukraine.

"Putin is ready to make peace but not at any price," said one senior Russian source with knowledge of top-level Kremlin thinking, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The three Russian sources said Mr. Putin wants a "written" pledge by major Western powers not to enlarge the US-led NATO alliance eastwards — shorthand for formally ruling out membership to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics.

Russia also wants Ukraine to be neutral, some Western sanctions lifted, a resolution of the issue of frozen Russian sovereign assets in the West and protection for Russian speakers in Ukraine, the three sources said.

The first source said that if Mr. Putin realizes he is unable to reach a peace deal on his own terms, he will seek to show the Ukrainians and the Europeans by military victories that "peace tomorrow will be even more painful."