MOSCOW, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Russia and the United States

have had their first meeting since the start of the Ukraine war,

aimed at restoring relations and preparing the ground for ending

the conflict.

What is known so far about what was discussed?

UKRAINE WAR

U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to quickly end the

war. President Vladimir Putin says he is willing to negotiate an

end to the war but based on the reality of Russia's control over

swathes of Ukraine. Trump says Putin wants a deal.

The exact details of a possible deal are unclear. Trump said he

could meet Putin this month.

NATO

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO allies last week

it was unrealistic for Ukraine to join the NATO alliance as part

of a negotiated settlement with Russia. Hegseth also said

Ukraine's hopes of restoring its internationally recognised

borders were an "illusionary goal".

Russia has demanded NATO scrap its 2008 promise to one day give

Ukraine membership of U.S.-led NATO and dismissed the idea that

NATO member forces could be keepers of the peace in Ukraine

under some sort of ceasefire deal.

The Kremlin said, however, that it was Ukraine's sovereign right

to decide whether it wanted to join the European Union and that

Moscow did not intend to dictate to Kyiv how it should approach

that question.

Still, the shape of a Western security guarantee for Ukraine

will be extremely challenging to resolve.

TERRITORY

Russian forces are gradually advancing and control just under a

fifth of Ukrainian territory in the east and south. Russia now

holds about 113,000 square kilometres (43,630 square miles) of

Ukraine, an area equivalent to the U.S. state of Ohio.

One of the critical issues is how much territory Russia is

demanding to keep.

Putin in June last year set out his opening stance on

territory: Ukraine must withdraw its troops from the entirety of

the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly

controlled by Russia.

Reuters reported in November that Putin was ready to negotiate a

deal with Trump, but would refuse to make major territorial

concessions and would insist Kyiv abandon ambitions to join

NATO.

US-RUSSIAN SUMMIT?

Both Trump and Putin have said they are willing to meet soon. It

would be the first face-to-face encounter between a Russian and

a U.S. leader since 2021.

"I would be glad to meet Donald," Putin said on Feb. 19.

"But we are in such a position that it is not enough to

simply meet, just to have a cup of tea or coffee, sit down and

talk about the future. We need to ensure that our teams prepare

issues that are extremely important for both the United States

and Russia, including - not only, but also on the Ukrainian

track, in order to reach solutions acceptable to both sides."

ENERGY

Trump has repeatedly said he wants to lower oil prices.

Putin said economic questions and "our joint work on global

energy markets" were issues to be explored.

It is unclear what they have in mind so far. Saudi Arabia, the

world's biggest oil exporter, hosted the February 18 talks

between Russia and the United States.

Russia needs Western technology to exploit its vast reserves of

oil and gas, and Gazprom has lost almost all of its

European gas market.

SANCTIONS AND INVESTMENT

Russia's sovereign wealth fund expects a number of U.S.

companies to return to Russia as early as the second quarter of

2025, its chief, Kirill Dmitriev, said after the talks in Saudi

Arabia's capital Riyadh.

Many Western companies, including McDonald's and

Caterpillar ( CAT ), have left Russia and some took hefty

write-downs while selling assets at steep discounts.

For them to return, however, would require the lifting of

the toughest Western sanctions ever imposed on a major economy.

If the U.S. lifted the sanctions, Western investment could again

flow into Russia and Russian markets would rally.

NUCLEAR TALKS

Trump said he would like to speak to Putin and Chinese President

Xi Jinping about limits on nuclear weapons arsenals. Russia and

the U.S. are by far the world's biggest nuclear powers.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, which

caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the U.S. and

Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and

submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them, is due to

run out in less than a year - on February 5, 2026.

Putin mentioned the New START treaty in remarks on Feb. 19.

PRISONER EXCHANGE

The Kremlin said the idea of a possible new prisoner

exchange between Russia and the U.S. was on the agenda after

Moscow and Washington agreed to start work on restoring

relations at all levels.

At least 10 Americans remain behind bars in Russia, including

two who have been designated as "wrongfully detained" by

Washington. Moscow freed American citizen Kalob Byers days

before the U.S.-Russian meeting in Riyadh.

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

At their meeting in Saudi Arabia, Russian and U.S. officials

restored working relations and resolved to remove obstacles -

such as frozen properties and limits on financial transactions.

Among the issues is diplomatic property. Washington has put

six Russian properties under restriction, including the

Killenworth estate on Long Island, the Pioneer Point "dacha" in

Maryland, the Russian consulates in San Francisco and Seattle

and the trade missions in Washington and New York.