In a speech to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday, Putin said that if Ukraine withdraws its forces from the four regions annexed by Moscow – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson – then he would order a halt to operations and begin negotiations to end the war.

As well as recognizing Russia's territorial claims to the formerly Ukrainian regions, Putin demanded that Kiev never join NATO or obtain nuclear weapons and called for an end to Western sanctions on Moscow.

The offer is the second from the Kremlin in recent weeks and comes at a crucial time in the nearly two-and-a-half-year conflict, as Moscow's forces make slow but steady gains in the Kharkiv region. To offset Russian advantages, Kiev's Western backers have significantly escalated their support by allowing Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia, seizing frozen Russian funds to give to Ukraine, and preparing to deploy NATO trainers to Ukraine.