Trump wanted to stop talks with Putin after hearing about his demands on Donetsk region - Axios
According to Axios, US President Donald Trump was ready to break off negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska when he heard that Putin was adamant in his demands to gain control over the entire Donetsk region.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to Hromadske.
According to sources, during the negotiations, Putin made maximalist demands regarding five Ukrainian regions, in particular stating that he demanded that the entire Donetsk region be transferred to Russian control.
The Kremlin leader was so adamant in this demand that the US president was ready to walk away from the negotiations.
"If the key issue here is Donetsk (meaning the entire Donetsk region — ed.), and if there are no concessions, we should not drag this out," he said.
Then, according to Axios, Putin allegedly backed down from his demand. However, after the talks, neither he nor Trump held a question-and-answer session with journalists, and their planned working lunch was canceled.
The publication also quotes assessments by US intelligence, as cited by its interlocutor. According to one assessment, Russia could capture the entire Donetsk region by October, but according to another, the path to this is "much more difficult and uncertain."
