Leaked post-summit call reveals US president’s support for proposal requiring Kyiv to cede Donbas region
US President Donald Trump plans to support a proposal that would let Russia take control of unoccupied Ukrainian territory as part of a peace agreement, according to details leaked from his post-summit call with European leaders.
Trump reportedly told European leaders that he believed a settlement could be reached if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to surrender the Donbas region — an area Russian forces have failed to capture despite more than three years of fighting, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing two senior European officials.
Two sources familiar with the Alaska talks told The Guardian that Putin insisted Ukraine pull out of the Donbas — comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions — as a precondition for ending the war, while proposing to Trump a freeze along the rest of the frontline.
While Russia controls nearly all of Luhansk, Ukraine still holds key areas of Donetsk, including Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, and heavily fortified positions. Putin reportedly told Trump he would stop further advances and freeze the frontline in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in exchange for Donetsk and Luhansk.
Trump backed ceding the mineral-rich Donbas to Russia, stressing his preference for a peace deal over a ceasefire, which he said on a social media post on Saturday “often times do not hold up.”
In a joint statement, European leaders said they were “ready to work with US President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy towards a trilateral summit with European support” but emphasized that “it will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.”
After discussions with Trump and European leaders, Zelensky said in a statement: “The positions are clear. A real peace must be achieved, one that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions."
Later on Saturday, he wrote on social media that pushing for a peace deal without a ceasefire first “complicates the situation."
