During the Alaska meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded Ukraine’s withdrawal from eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions as a precondition for ending the three-year war, Independent reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Both regions are part of Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2022, along with Kherson and Luhansk regions by Russia. Although Luhansk is almost fully captured by Russia, Donetsk region is still under control of Ukraine, including key cities of Slaviansk and Kherson. Putin reportedly told Trump during a three-hour closed-door meeting in Alaska on Friday that he would end the hostilities and freeze the frontline in southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions if Ukraine agreed to cede the two eastern regions.
Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has repeatedly ruled out ceding any territory to Russia in exchange of peace. Trump first floated the idea of “land swapping” within Ukraine in early August. He told Fox News after the Alaska summit that swapping of territory in Ukraine was discussed with Putin.
“I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on. I think we’re pretty close to a deal,” Trump said. Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say no,” he added.
Following the summit with Putin, Trump had an hour-long one-to-one call with Zelenskiy to brief the Ukrainian leader on the talks with Putin. “President Trump informed [me] about his meeting with the Russian leader and the main points of their discussion,” Zelenskyy wrote in social media after the phone call, without delving into the points of discussion. European leaders joined the phone call, emphasizing the importance of security guarantees for Ukraine. Later, Zelenskiy’s chief communications adviser denied a report circulated in social media about a possible air ceasefire before a trilateral summit.
After the phone call with Zelenskiy, Trump wrote in a post on social media platform Truth Social that he would host Zelenskiy in the Oval Office on Monday for talks. Trump also shifted his stance over the temporary ceasefire, writing in the same post that “the best way to end the horrific war” would be “to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up”.
