An outline of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s peace proposal to end the war in Ukraine has emerged following his Alaska summit with US President Donald Trump.
As per Reuters citing sources briefed on Moscow’s thinking, the plan would require Ukraine to give up the Donetsk and Luhansk regions entirely (which constitute what is know as “the Donbas”), while Russia would pledge to halt further advances in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
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In return, Moscow would hand back small strips of occupied land in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions - areas totaling just around 440 square kilometers.
For Ukraine, the deal represents massive territorial concessions and political compromises that Kyiv and its allies have long rejected. Ukraine has vowed not to retreat from the Donbas, which it views as crucial to preventing deeper Russian incursions.
Trump briefed President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders on the discussions early Saturday. It remains unclear whether Putin’s proposals were meant as an opening position for negotiations or as a final offer.
The Kremlin’s plan rules out a ceasefire until a comprehensive deal is struck, blocking Kyiv’s demand for an immediate truce amid daily Russian drone and missile strikes.
The proposals would also see Ukraine permanently barred from joining NATO, while Moscow seeks recognition of its sovereignty over Crimea, seized in 2014.
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Sources said Putin also wants sanctions relief, though it is unclear if this applies to US measures or only European ones.
Another element of the offer includes granting official status to the Russian language and allowing the Russian Orthodox Church to operate freely in Ukraine. (It is not clear whether the Reuters source was referring to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church still linked to the Mocsow Patriarchate). Kyiv’s security services accuse the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church of spreading propaganda and collaborating with Russian intelligence.
Fox News, citing a European diplomat, reported:
“Vladimir Putin has proposed for Moscow to take full control of the Donbas region and freeze the front lines elsewhere in exchange for ending his nation’s war with Ukraine, and President Trump supports the terms.”
According to the report, after Friday’s meeting with Putin in Alaska, Trump told European allies that the Russian president insisted on retaining the key Luhansk and Donetsk regions but seemed open “to the possibility of ending the stalemate” in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, with a potential freeze along the front lines.
Zelensky will be in Washington on Monday for further talks with Trump, including the possibility of a Trump-Putin-Zelensky summit.
Trump told Zelensky and other leaders during the call that he wanted a trilateral summit “soon,” possibly as early as Aug. 22, two sources told Axios.
However, the outlet added that Putin has not publicly committed to such a meeting.
The US reportedly has offered Ukraine NATO-style security guarantees, short of full membership, in the event of a peace deal with Russia, according to media reports.
This would oblige the US and European allies to respond to any future attack on Ukraine, mirroring NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause.
“As one of the security guarantees for Ukraine, the American side proposed a non-NATO Article 5 type guarantee, supposedly agreed with Putin,” an anonymous diplomatic source told AFP.
“No one knows how this could work and why Putin would agree to it if he is categorically against NATO and obviously really effective guarantees of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” the source added.
The idea was reportedly raised in a call between Trump, Zelensky, and European leaders on Saturday.
A joint statement by European leaders insisted Russia “cannot have a veto against Ukraine’s pathway to EU and NATO.”
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