Not Ceasefire but Putin wants Ukraine's eastern Donbas area to stop war tells Trump
17-Aug-2025.
Following the historic meeting between US President Trump and Russian President Putin in Alaska on August 16 the US President dropped his demand for a ceasefire in Ukraine and told its president Zelensky that Putin wants Ukraine’s eastern Donbas area in exchange for stopping the war.
Trump after meeting Putin said Ukraine and Russia should go straight to negotiating a settlement, a split with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European allies that aligns the United States with Putin.
Ukrainian President Zelensky has rejected the Russian demand to cede Ukrainian land. The Ukrainian leader and his European partners, including the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, had lobbied the White House to pressure Moscow into a ceasefire before any negotiations.
Trump’s swerve increases pressure on the Ukrainian leader as he prepares to go to the White House on August 18 to make his case.
Meanwhile Kyiv’s European backers say it cannot negotiate under attack and are wary of a rushed deal that could reshape the continent’s security landscape.
Trump told Zelensky and other European leaders in a phone call that in addition to land Russia has seized in the war, Putin wants Ukraine to cede all of Donbas in exchange for a promise to freeze the front line elsewhere, say sources.
Trump conveyed that he was shifting away from the ceasefire demand and toward reaching a swift deal, which could make the Russian conditions the starting point for talks, two of the people said.
The Europeans were told by Trump that he would be open to providing security guarantees for Ukraine in a deal but the details were unclear, according to two European diplomats. European leaders were invited to join Zelensky and Trump in the White House on August 18, the diplomats said.
The Europeans have said any agreement should protect Ukraine against further Russian attacks and welcomed comments by Trump that the United States could back security guarantees, a level of U.S. involvement that Europeans have long sought.
Prior to Alaska summit, European officials were doubtful that the United States was supporting their demand for a ceasefire along the current line of contact. But after the call Saturday, Trump abandoned it publicly.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up”.
Putin has rejected calls for a ceasefire. He has insisted instead on broader negotiations for a final peace deal. Ukraine and its European allies say that position is a stalling tactic for Russia to press its gains on the battlefield.
Putin had said that the meeting with Trump was “very useful” and “in my opinion, it brings us closer to the right decisions. Putin said he told Trump that settling “root causes”, demand that Ukraine be demilitarized and barred from joining NATO “must be the main points of any possible agreement.”
