US peace plan emerges as freezing of Ukraine frontlines with concessions to Putin

Russia said to have signalled it could halt war in return for US recognition of its control of Crimea and sanctions relief

The contours of the White House's final" peace proposal to halt the Russian invasion of Ukraine have come into focus with proposals to freeze the frontlines in exchange for terms that critics have termed a surrender to Russian interests in the the three-year-old conflict.

Three people with knowledge of the talks told the Guardian that Vladimir Putin had signalled a readiness to effectively freeze the frontlines of the conflict in exchange for numerous concessions, including US recognition of Russian control of Crimea and considerable US sanctions relief. The Financial Times first reported Putin's proposal on Tuesday.