Kyiv: Amid claims that Russia is planning a major new offensive on February 24 to mark the first anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine, a report in the international media claiming that US President Joe Biden offered 20% of the war-ravaged nation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war has created a political storm. A report published in Swiss-German newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) and Washington Post claimed that CIA Director, William Burns, offered Russian President Vladimir Putin a fifth of Ukraine's territory in order to end the ongoing war as part of a peace plan drawn up on behalf of President Joe Biden.


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Reports claimed that the CIA director secretly travelled to Moscow and briefed Kremlin about the peace proposal and then he also travelled to Kyiv and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the proposal. 


In its report that was published on Thursday, NZZ cited high-ranking German politicians and claimed that Burns submitted the peace plan in mid-January to the Russian officials to end the war, which began on February 24, 2022. Washington Post also reported that Burns was attempting to broker a peace deal between the countries at war but both Kyiv and Moscow reportedly rejected the proposal.


NZZ reported that the peace plan offered "around 20 per cent of Ukraine's territory" but Kyiv rejected the proposal "because they are not willing to have their territory divided" while Russia said they "will win the war in the long run anyway."


Now, the White House has denied the report. American news outlet Newsweek cited Sean Davett, the deputy spokesperson at the White House National Security Council, as calling the report "not accurate". A CIA official also confirmed to Newsweek that the report which states that William Burns took a secret trip to Moscow in January and that there was a peace proposal put forward is "completely false."


Amid all this, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov that Russia is planning a major new offensive against the war-torn nation on February 24 to mark the first anniversary of Moscow`s ongoing invasion of Kyiv.


he White House and the CIA have responded to a report that CIA Director, William Burns, offered Russian President Vladimir Putin a fifth of Ukraine's territory to end the ongoing war as part of a peace plan drawn up on behalf of President Joe Biden.


The Minister made the remarks on Wednesday during a trip to France where he struck a deal to purchase additional MG-200 air defence radars, which he said would "significantly increase the capacity of the armed forces to detect air targets, including winged and ballistic missiles, and drones of various types", the BBC reported.


Speaking to the French BFM network, Reznikov claimed that Moscow had mobilised some 500,000 troops for the potential offensive but also suggested that the true figure recruited and deployed to Ukraine could be far higher.