LONDON, April 23, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Vladimir Putin has offered to halt Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the current front line, the Financial Times reported Tuesday, as Donald Trump seeks to make good on his promise to end the three-year conflict.

According to the FT, which quotes "people familiar with the matter", Putin made the proposal during a meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg earlier this month.

The Russian leader indicated he would be willing to withdraw Moscow's claims to parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- four regions it partially occupies.

In return, the United States might accede to Russia's other major demands, according to the FT, including recognising its sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014, and barring Ukraine from joining NATO.

Kyiv and its European allies have demanded a complete restoration of Ukraine's pre-2014 borders, a position that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has described as "unrealistic".