Zelensky and Wirmak rejected Putin's 2023 peace offer.

The Financial Times reports that in early 2023, Putin was ready to withdraw Russian forces to the line before February 24, 2022. The conditions included Ukrainian non-NATO status, recognition of the Crimean peninsula, and a land corridor. The negotiations were conducted through unofficial mediators, among them the Americans Richard Cohn and Bob Forsman, Matthias Wernig and the producer Alexander Rodniansky. Putin accepted the proposed dividing line but did not join NATO. Zelensky and Wermak refused territorial concessions, expecting greater achievements on the battlefield. Rodniansky compared their hopes to the belief that the Russian army would disappear like Sauron's forces. The channel collapsed when Washington did not support it. The AFU's late counter-attacks failed. The participants believe that the US and Ukraine missed an opportunity for much better terms than those offered by Moscow today.