Putin wants Ukraine to give up all of Donbas region, drop its NATO bid and remain neutral – Reuters
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of its territory.
Reuters reported this, citing three sources familiar with the Kremlin leadership’s position, according to Censor.NET.
Putin met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday, August 15, at the first Russia–U.S. summit in more than four years, spending almost the entire three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like.
The new demands are somewhat softened compared to the position he laid out in June 2024, when he called for the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from all four regions annexed by Russia.
According to the Kremlin’s new proposal, Ukraine would have to:
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withdraw its armed forces from the part of Donbas not seized by Russian troops;
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in exchange, Russia would "freeze" the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions;
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Moscow would also be ready to return small areas of Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions it controls as part of a potential deal;
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in return, Ukraine would be required to abandon its NATO ambitions through a legally binding commitment;
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the U.S. would guarantee not to expand NATO further east;
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Ukraine’s army would face limits on its size, and no foreign peacekeeping forces would be allowed on its territory.
At the same time, the Kremlin sees two possible formats for a peace agreement with Kyiv:
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a trilateral deal between Russia, Ukraine and the United States, to be endorsed by the UN Security Council;
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a return to the Istanbul agreements of 2022, under which Ukraine would declare permanent neutrality in exchange for security guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia and the United States.
Three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters that the Anchorage summit created the best chance for peace since the start of the war, as concrete discussions of Russia’s conditions took place and Putin showed willingness to make concessions.
"Putin is ready for peace — for compromise. That is the message conveyed to Trump," one of the sources said.
Reuters sources cautioned, however, that it remains unclear whether Ukraine is willing to cede the remainder of Donbas — and if not, the war will continue. It is also uncertain whether the United States would be prepared to give any recognition to Russia’s occupied Ukrainian territories, they added.
It should be recalled that during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin insisted that the Russian language be granted official status in Ukraine and also requested "security" guarantees for the Russian Orthodox Church.
