In a significant development, Russian President Vladimir Putin has laid out terms for a peace agreement over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine during a summit with Donald Trump in Alaska.
According to insiders familiar with Kremlin strategies, Putin’s demands include Ukraine relinquishing control of the entire eastern Donbas region, abandoning its ambitions to join NATO, and maintaining a neutral stance devoid of Western military presence.
The three-hour meeting, the first U.S.-Russia summit in over four years, focused on potential compromises to end a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Putin, alongside Trump, expressed hopes for a resurgence of peace, although specifics remained undisclosed.
Sources reveal that Putin has moderated his earlier territorial expectations, which had previously included the complete annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
In the revised proposal, Russia wants Ukraine to retreat from remaining Donbas territories while Moscow holds current lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. U.S. estimates suggest Russia controls 88% of Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Additional concessions from Moscow include returning controlled segments of Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Despite these outlines, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy maintained firm resistance to redrawing borders, especially within internationally recognized Ukrainian territory. He reiterated that relinquishing control over the industrial Donbas is non-negotiable, emphasizing its critical role in resisting Russian advances.
Zelenskiy also refuted relinquishing NATO aspirations, a strategic constitutional objective for Ukraine, dismissing Russia’s dictate over its alliance membership.
Despite Russia’s terms and the diplomatic engagement with the U.S., skepticism persists globally over Putin’s readiness to end hostilities. Leaders from Britain, France, and Germany have questioned the sincerity behind Russia’s latest overtures, warning against prematurely optimistic outcomes.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov remarked that Putin is open to meeting Zelenskiy, though further clarity is required on whether any subsequent peace deal could be ratified given Zelenskiy’s authority under current wartime circumstances.
With Zelenskiy’s legitimacy still recognized by Kyiv amidst extended presidential terms due to the ongoing conflict, Moscow’s apprehension looms over its long-standing narrative questioning Ukraine’s governance stability.
