Vladimir Putin’s chief emissary to Ukraine told the Russian leader at the start of the war that he had reached a preliminary agreement with Kiev that would satisfy Russia’s demand for Ukraine to withdraw from NATO, but Putin rejected him and continued the military campaign, the three of them told Reuters .

According to these sources, the ambassador of Ukrainian origin, Dmytro Kozak, told Putin that, in his opinion, the agreement reached spared Russia the need to carry out a full-scale occupation of Ukraine.

Before the war, Putin repeatedly said that NATO and its military infrastructure were moving ever closer to Russia’s borders, accepting new members from Eastern Europe, and that the alliance was now preparing to bring Ukraine into its orbit.

Putin has publicly stated that this poses a threat to Russia’s existence, prompting him to respond.

But despite his previous support for negotiations, Putin made it clear when he was presented with the deal Kozak reached that the concessions negotiated by his adviser did not go far enough, and that he had broadened his goals to include annexation parts of Ukrainian territory, sources told Reuters. .

Result: the agreement was terminated.

Peskov categorically denies the information, Kyiv evades an answer

Asked about the Reuters report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It has absolutely nothing to do with reality. There was nothing like it before. This is completely false information.” Kozak did not respond to requests for comment sent through the Kremlin.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said Russia was using the talks as a smokescreen to prepare for its invasion, but did not answer questions about the nature of the talks or confirm that a preliminary agreement had been reached.

“Today we clearly understand that the Russian side has never been interested in a peaceful settlement,” said Podolyak.

“Putin simply changed the plan along the way”

Two of the three sources said efforts to finalize the deal took place immediately after the Russian invasion on February 24. Within days, Kozak believed he had Ukraine’s agreement on the main terms Russia sought and recommended Putin sign the deal, the sources said.

“After February 24, Kozak was given the go-ahead, he was given the green light; got the deal He returned it and was told to leave. Everything was cancelled. Putin simply changed the plan along the way,” said one of the sources close to the Russian leadership.

A third source, who was briefed on the developments by people familiar with the talks between Kozak and Putin, disputed the timing, saying that Kozak had offered the deal to Putin and that he had been turned down before the invasion.

All the sources asked to remain anonymous because they are sharing confidential internal information.

Even if Putin had agreed to Kozak’s plan, it remains unclear whether the war would have ended. Reuters says it cannot independently verify whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi or senior officials in his government have committed to the deal.

Kozak has a former lieutenant loyal to Putin, but now he is “nowhere”

Kozak, 63, has been Putin’s loyal lieutenant since working with him in the 1990s at St. Petersburg City Hall. Kozak was in a good position to negotiate a peace deal because, starting in 2020, Putin tasked him with negotiating with his Ukrainian counterparts over Donbas in eastern Ukraine, which has been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

After leading the Russian delegation to talks with Ukrainian officials in Berlin on February 10, mediated by France and Germany, Kozak said at an overnight news conference that the latest round of those talks had ended without a breakthrough.

Kozak was also in attendance when, three days before the invasion, Putin gathered his military, security chiefs and top advisers in the Kremlin’s Catherine Hall for a meeting of Russia’s Security Council.

State television cameras captured part of the meeting, during which Putin presented plans for official recognition of separatist entities in eastern Ukraine.

After the cameras were removed from the vast hall with its neoclassical columns and vaulted ceiling, Kozak spoke out against Russia taking any steps to escalate the situation with Ukraine, two of the three people close to the Russian leadership said, along with a third person who learned about what happened from people who were present at the meeting.

Another person interviewed by Reuters who was involved in post-invasion talks said talks broke down in early March when Ukrainian officials realized Putin intended to pursue a full-scale invasion.

Six months after the start of the war, Kozak remains the deputy head of the Kremlin administration. But he is no longer involved in the Ukraine dossier, according to six sources who spoke to Reuters.

“As far as I can see, Kozak is nowhere,” said one of the six, a source close to the separatist leadership in eastern Ukraine.