What are the issues in US talks with Ukraine and Russia?

(Reuters) -Here are some of the issues that Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine are discussing in talks aimed at paving the way for an end to the war in Ukraine:

ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE

President Vladimir Putin agreed on March 18 to a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump for Russia and Ukraine to stop attacks on each other's energy infrastructure for 30 days. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine would support the proposal.

The agreement fell short of the proposed blanket 30-day truce that the U.S. had sought and Ukraine had accepted. 

Both sides have since reported continuing strikes on their energy facilities.

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

A U.S. statement said Trump had suggested in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on March 19 that the U.S. could help run, and possibly own, Ukraine's nuclear power plants and energy infrastructure.

Zelenskiy denied that ownership was discussed with Trump but said the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia facility in Ukraine, Europe's largest nuclear plant, was among the topics. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of risking an accident at the plant with attacks.

Zelenskiy said Kyiv would be ready to discuss U.S. involvement in modernizing the plant if it were returned to Ukraine.

BLACK SEA SHIPPING

U.S. and Russian officials held talks in Saudi Arabia on March 24 on a Trump initiative on a Black Sea maritime ceasefire.

Turkey and the United Nations helped mediate the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2022 that allowed the safe export of nearly 33 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain.

Russia withdrew after a year, but the World Bank's global commodities outlook from April 2024 said both Russia and Ukraine were shipping grain without major problems.

Kyiv has made little comment on Trump's Black Sea initiative, though Zelenskiy has said he also backs the idea of a maritime truce. This could allow it to use the port of Mykolaiv, in addition to three other ports in its Odesa region, to export its grain, iron ore and other commodities.

Ukraine has inflicted significant damage on Russia's Black Sea Fleet since 2022, forcing Moscow to move many vessels out of its base in occupied Crimea.

PRISONER EXCHANGES

Russia and Ukraine exchanged 175 prisoners of war each, both sides said on March 19, and Russia handed over an additional 22 Ukrainian prisoners in what the Russian defence ministry called a goodwill gesture. Zelenskiy said the 22 Ukrainians were "severely wounded warriors and those whom Russia persecuted for fabricated crimes".

NATO MEMBERSHIP

Putin has said he wants Ukraine to officially drop its ambitions to join NATO. 

Ukraine defines joining NATO as a goal in its constitution and says that membership of the bloc would be the best form of security guarantee that it can receive as part of a peace deal.

Last month, John Coale, Trump's deputy Ukraine envoy, said the United States had not ruled out potential NATO membership for Ukraine, or a negotiated return to its pre-2014 borders - a prospect U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had said was unrealistic.

Trump has said he does not believe Russia would "allow" Ukraine NATO membership.

UKRAINE'S POST-WAR SECURITY

With NATO membership not an immediate prospect, Ukraine is seeking to bolster its military and secure continued backing from Europe and the United States as part of any peace deal.

Britain and France are pursuing a plan to create a deterrent force of foreign troops, ships and planes based in or around Ukraine after a peace deal is signed.

Some Russian officials have said they could not accept such a force and Moscow has said one condition of a peace deal is a reduction in Ukraine's military.

WESTERN SANCTIONS, ELECTIONS

Putin has said he wants Western sanctions on Russia eased and a presidential election to be held in Ukraine.

Ukrainian legislation prohibits holding elections during martial law and Ukrainian officials say that it is not Moscow's place to dictate an election date.

The United States led broad sanctions efforts against Russia under Biden, including measures to limit its oil and gas revenues such as a cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil exports.

Sources have told Reuters the Trump administration has been studying ways it could ease sanctions if Moscow agrees to end the war. This month Trump also raised the prospect of imposing large-scale banking curbs and tariffs on Russia until peace is achieved.

RUSSIAN-HELD TERRITORY

Russia wants to control all of four, partially-occupied eastern Ukrainian regions it has claimed as its own, plus the Crimean peninsula which it seized and annexed in 2014.

Russia's Kommersant daily cited unnamed sources who attended a private event with Putin as saying he wants the U.S. to formally recognise the four regions - Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - as part of Russia along with Crimea.

Ukraine says it will never recognise Russian sovereignty over Ukrainian territory but that it realises it will have to be returned diplomatically over time.

UKRAINIAN MINERALS

Kyiv and Washington have been discussing a deal under which the United States would get a financial return from the development of Ukrainian natural resources, in particular rare earths used to manufacture electronics.

Efforts to seal the deal stumbled after a disastrous White House meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy at the end of last month. The White House said on March 19 it had moved beyond just the deal framework and was focused on a long-term peace agreement. Trump said the following day a deal on rare earths would be signed very shortly. 

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Tom Balmforth; Editing by Ros Russell, Gareth Jones and Philippa Fletcher)