WASHINGTON: The US and Russia are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Moscow’s control of territory seized during its military invasion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

Russian and US officials are working towards an agreement on territories for a planned summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as early as next week, the report said, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

A White House official said the Bloomberg story was speculation. A Kremlin spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

There was no immediate comment on the report from Ukrainian authorities. However, in a statement published after the report that did not refer to it, President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “The United States is determined to achieve a ceasefire, and we must jointly support all constructive steps. A dignified, reliable, and lasting peace can only be the result of our joint efforts,” he said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the details included in the Bloomberg report.

Putin claims four Ukrainian regions Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he annexed in 2014. His forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions.

Ukraine has previously signalled a willingness to be flexible in the search for an end to a war that has ravaged its towns and cities and killed large numbers of its soldiers and citizens.

Painful for Zelensky

But accepting the loss of around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory would be painful and politically challenging for Zelenskiy and his government.

Tyson Barker, the US State Department’s former deputy special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery, said the proposal, as outlined by Bloomberg, would be immediately rejected by the Ukrainians.

“The best the Ukrainians can do is remain firm in their objections and their conditions for a negotiated settlement, while demonstrating their gratitude for American support,” said Barker, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council.

Under the putative deal, according to Bloomberg, Russia would halt its offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions along current battle lines.

Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has moved to mend relations with Russia and sought to end the war. In his public comments he has veered between admiration and sharp criticism of Putin.

In a sign of his growing frustration with Putin’s refusal to halt Russia’s military offensive, Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions and tariffs from Friday against Moscow and countries that buy its exports unless the Russian leader agrees to end the 3-1/2 year conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.

But with the Putin-Trump summit expected in the coming days, possibly in the United Arab Emirates, it is unclear whether those sanctions will take effect or will be delayed or cancelled.

The administration took a step toward punishing Moscow’s oil customers on Wednesday, imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on goods from India over its imports of Russian oil, marking the first financial penalty aimed at Russia in Trump’s second term.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday that both sides described as constructive.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, a close ally of Ukraine, said earlier on Friday that a pause in the conflict could be close. He was speaking after talks with Zelensky.

“There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict I don’t want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict is closer than it is further away,” Tusk told a news conference. “There are hopes for this.” Tusk also said Zelenskiy was “very cautious but optimistic” and that Ukraine was keen that Poland and other European countries play a role in planning for a ceasefire and an eventual peace settlement.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2025