PHOTO: REUTERS

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide spoke to members of the US administration after Moscow received US proposals about a possible Ukrainian peace deal, the Kremlin said yesterday.

Kremlin foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, spoke by telephone to several members of the administration of US President Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He did not say when the call took place.

Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev brought paper copies of US proposals for peace back to Moscow after a meeting in Miami at the weekend - and the details were being analysed by the Kremlin, Peskov said.

“The information was analysed, and on behalf of President Putin, contact took place between representatives of the administrations of Russia and the United States,” Peskov said. “It was agreed to continue the dialogue.”

When asked how the Kremlin viewed the documents, Peskov said that he did not want to comment as Russia felt making remarks in public could undermine the negotiations, reports Reuters.

Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported that Putin told some of Russia’s top businessmen that he might be open to swapping some territory controlled by Russian forces in Ukraine but that he wanted the whole of Donbas.

Asked about the report, Peskov said that the Ukrainian peace discussions were touched upon “in general” and mentioned at the meeting. He gave no further details on the details of what was discussed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that he would soon meet US leader Donald Trump, as part of efforts to end the Russian invasion, reports AFP.

“We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level –- with President Trump in the near future. A lot can be decided before the New Year,” Zelensky said on social media.

The latest plan would freeze the frontline and remove a requirement for Kyiv to legally renounce its bid to join Nato, Zelensky said in a briefing Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Russian overnight drone attacks damaged Slovakia-, Palau- and Liberia-flagged vessels in ports in Ukraine’s Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said yesterday.

In recent weeks, Russia has escalated attacks on the southern Odesa region, and Ukrainian officials said Moscow aimed to cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea and sow chaos among civilians.

There were no casualties in yesterday’s strikes, Oleksiy Kuleba said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app, but the attacks caused power cuts and damaged elevators and civilian warehouses in the Odesa region.

Separately, Kuleba added, drones damaged a locomotive and a freight car at the northwestern Kovel railway station.