Putin outlines conditions for Ukraine peace deal in talks with Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin is pressing Ukraine to relinquish all of the eastern Donbas region, abandon its NATO aspirations, adopt neutrality, and block Western forces from entering its territory, three individuals familiar with high-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters.

The summit came against a backdrop of renewed Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities in the days immediately following the Alaska meeting. Ukrainian officials reported casualties and damage to energy and transport infrastructure, underscoring the continuing intensity of the conflict even as Moscow speaks of compromise.

Kyiv has also said that Russian forces carried out intensified shelling along the eastern front, particularly around Donetsk, in what Ukrainian commanders view as an attempt to consolidate battlefield positions before any potential negotiations gain momentum. The escalation has reinforced scepticism within Ukraine about Moscow’s intentions.

Putin met US President Donald Trump in Alaska on 15 August in the first Russia–United States summit for more than four years. According to the sources, the leaders spent nearly all of their three-hour closed session examining potential terms for a settlement on Ukraine. The individuals, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the discussions, said this represented the most substantive engagement yet on the issue, as per the Reuters report.

Speaking alongside Trump after the talks, Putin expressed hope that the meeting could pave the way to peace in Ukraine, though neither leader gave details. The information shared with Reuters marks the clearest picture so far of Moscow’s expectations in any eventual accord aimed at ending a war that has left hundreds of thousands dead, wounded, or missing.

The Kremlin’s current position reflects a shift from demands Putin had presented in June 2024. At that time, he insisted Ukraine cede the entirety of four regions claimed by Russia — Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Kyiv dismissed those conditions outright as equivalent to capitulation.

Under the revised offer, Putin is insisting that Ukraine withdraw fully from the Donbas, including the areas it still administers. In exchange, Russia would freeze the existing front lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the sources said. US assessments indicate Moscow currently holds around 88 per cent of the Donbas and roughly 73 per cent of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The Kremlin is also signalling readiness to relinquish smaller tracts of Ukrainian land in Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk that Russian troops have seized.

However, Putin is maintaining long-standing demands: Ukraine must formally renounce NATO membership, NATO itself must pledge not to expand further eastwards, and Kyiv must agree to restrictions on its armed forces, alongside assurances that no Western peacekeeping units will be stationed in the country.

Despite this adjustment, positions remain far apart. It is more than three years since Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an escalation of conflict that began after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and years of fighting in the east between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to the proposals. Its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently ruled out abandoning internationally recognised territory. He reiterated this stance on Thursday: “If we’re talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that. It is a matter of our country’s survival, involving the strongest defensive lines.”

Joining NATO remains enshrined in Ukraine’s constitution and is viewed in Kyiv as its most secure long-term defence. Zelenskyy has stressed it is not for Russia to decide on membership. Neither the White House nor NATO offered immediate comment on the reported Russian position.

Analysts say Moscow’s insistence on Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Donbas renders the proposal politically untenable. “Openness to ‘peace’ on terms categorically unacceptable to the other side could be more of a performance for Trump than a sign of a true willingness to compromise,” said Samuel Charap, chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at the RAND Corporation. “The only way to test that proposition is to begin a serious process at the working level to hash out those details.”

According to US estimates, Russian forces now occupy around one-fifth of Ukraine — territory comparable in size to the American state of Ohio. The three sources close to the Kremlin described the Anchorage summit as the best chance yet for peace talks, noting Putin’s apparent flexibility. “Putin is ready for peace — for compromise. That is the message that was conveyed to Trump,” one of them said.

Even so, uncertainty remains over whether Kyiv would accept ceding what is left of the Donbas, and whether Washington would recognise Russia’s territorial claims. A fourth individual noted that although economic considerations are secondary for Putin, he recognises the strain of prolonging the conflict and the risks of attempting to advance further.

Trump has repeatedly framed himself as a potential “peacemaker president”. On Monday, he confirmed he was arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, to be followed by a trilateral summit. “I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended,” Trump said at the White House alongside Zelenskyy. “I feel confident we are going to get it solved.”

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin was open to meeting Zelenskyy directly but argued preliminary work was required and questioned Zelenskyy’s authority to finalise any agreement, given that his presidential term technically expired in May 2024. Kyiv insists he remains the legitimate head of state. Leaders in Britain, France and Germany have meanwhile voiced scepticism over Moscow’s willingness to conclude hostilities.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff played a central role in facilitating the Alaska meeting, according to two of the Russian sources. On 6 August, he met Putin in Moscow alongside Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. At that session, Putin laid out his parameters for compromise.

If Russia and Ukraine were to strike a deal, one option under discussion would be a trilateral accord involving the US that could be endorsed by the UN Security Council. Another possibility would be to revisit the 2022 Istanbul talks, when Russia and Ukraine explored neutrality for Kyiv in return for security guarantees from the UN’s five permanent members — the US, UK, France, China and Russia.

“There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war,” said one of the sources.

With agency inputs