The U.S. and Western officials also hoping a slowdown in fighting this winter could be an opportunity for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, NBC reported, citing unnamed officials familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Western defense officials who spoke to NBC doubt Ukraine's ability to remove Russian troops completely from Ukraine's occupied territories.
A Ukrainian official familiar with talks during U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan's visit to Kyiv last week also told NBC Sullivan had not tried to pressure Ukraine into entering negotiations but had expressed that Ukraine would maintain Western support better if it shows it is open to diplomatic solutions.
According to the Ukrainian official, President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine was open to negotiations with Russia in the early months of the war but took the option off the table following Russia's atrocities and war crimes in Ukraine that had made diplomacy with Russia "unpalatable to the Ukrainian public," NBC wrote.
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