Ukraine Responds to Putin's Reported Demands to Trump

Newsweek

9 hours ago

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It would be "totally unacceptable" for Kyiv to give up its eastern regions for a peace deal, a senior Ukrainian politician has said, as Ukrainian officials prepare to meet President Donald Trump and European leaders in Washington on Monday.
Reuters reported on Sunday that Russia had said it would offer slivers of land it currently controls in Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv ceding chunks of land in the east that Russia does not currently control, citing sources briefed on the Kremlin's thinking.
Under the proposal, Ukraine would fully withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk, with the current front lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to the south frozen in place, according to the report.
For Ukraine, it is politically and militarily off the table to consent to losing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign affairs committee and a member of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's party, previously told Newsweek.
President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on August 15, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska.
President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on August 15, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska.The Kremlin declared in fall 2022 that Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions were now part of Russia after referendums widely condemned as a sham. Russia had seized Crimea, to the south of the mainland, from Ukraine in 2014.
Moscow does not control all of the four mainland Ukrainian regions, but has long focused on asserting its grip on Donetsk and Luhansk. They are collectively known as the Donbas, and form much of Ukraine's industrial heartland.
The current proposal is a "provocation" from the Kremlin chief, and one to which Ukraine can never agree, Merezhko said.
Kyiv has repeatedly said it is against the country's constitution to give land away to Moscow.
The Russian and Ukrainian positions on what the Kremlin would control in any ceasefire agreement or peace deal have always been far apart, and there is little hint that this has changed on either side.
But what may have shifted is President Donald Trump's patience to entertain steadfast Russian demands. The Republican had in recent months expressed increasing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but said off the back of the two leaders' first meeting of Trump's second term that the summit was "useful."
No deal was announced, and Trump pivoted his position on a ceasefire, saying he would move straight to a permanent peace deal. Zelensky said on Saturday Russia's refusal to sign a ceasefire "complicates the situation."
Russia is not in a position to seize Donetsk through military means, and, for Ukraine, the region has huge strategic importance, Merezhko said.
Close to three-and-years of full-scale war has seen Russia gain control of large areas of Luhansk and Donetsk, but much of the latter still remains in Ukrainian control. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank that tracks the daily changes to the front lines in the conflict, said earlier this month Ukraine still controls roughly 6,500 square kilometers of territory in Donetsk—equivalent to a quarter of the region.
Russia's slow but steady gains, concentrated in Donetsk, have come at an eyewatering human cost, according to Ukrainian and Western assessments.
Crucially, west of the front lines, in Ukrainian-held Donetsk, are several cities known as "fortress settlements" that are vital to Ukraine's defenses.
The region is a "bulwark" for Ukraine to shield its other regions, Merezhko said.
After the Anchorage summit, Trump told European leaders that he backed a plan in which Ukraine would cede territory it still controlled to Russia, The New York Times reported, citing two senior European officials.
Several European leaders will travel to participate in Zelensky's meeting at the White House on Monday, including British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer.