Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump
Russian President Vladimir Putin has set three key conditions for achieving peace with Ukraine – the surrender of the entire eastern Donbas region, the abandonment of Ukraine’s NATO membership ambitions, and a commitment to remain neutral with no Western troops stationed on its soil, according to reports.
Putin reportedly outlined these demands during his summit with US President Donald Trump in Alaska last week, Reuters reported quoting sources.
Russian officials told Reuters that Moscow has scaled back its earlier demands from June 2024. At that time, Russia had insisted on Ukraine ceding four provinces – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia – which the Kremlin considers part of its territory.
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Now, according to the Reuters, Russia is demanding only the remaining parts of Donbas still under Ukrainian control. In exchange, Moscow would halt its offensive in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
U.S. estimates and open-source data suggest Russia currently controls about 88% of Donbas and 73% of both Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Additionally, Moscow has signaled it could return small portions of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions now under Russian occupation as part of a potential settlement, the sources said.
Beyond territorial concessions, Putin is holding firm on security guarantees. He demands that Ukraine abandon its NATO aspirations and that the alliance provide a legally binding pledge not to expand further east.
The Russian leader also insists on restrictions for Ukraine’s military and a guarantee that Western nations will not deploy ground forces as part of any peacekeeping mission.
“Putin is ready for peace – for compromise,” one source told Reuters. “That is the message that was conveyed to Trump.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made clear his government will not surrender internationally recognized territory. He stressed that the Donbas region is critical to Ukraine’s defense.
“If we’re talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that,” Zelensky said on Thursday. “It is a matter of our country’s survival, involving the strongest defensive lines.”
Zelensky also underscored that Ukraine’s NATO ambitions are enshrined in its constitution and should not be dictated by Russia.
Despite Putin’s stated willingness to compromise, there are no immediate plans for direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC News that a summit between Putin and Zelensky is not on the agenda.
“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” Lavrov told Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker.
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
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