Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented a revised set of conditions for ending the war in Ukraine, slightly scaling back his territorial demands but insisting that Kyiv surrender the entire Donbas region and formally abandon its NATO aspirations. This proposal was detailed during a high-stakes, three-hour closed-door meeting with former U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska, marking the first Russia-U.S. summit in over four years.
According to sources, Putin’s new proposal compromises on his extreme demands from June 2024, which required Ukraine to cede the four provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. The current offer insists on a complete Ukrainian withdrawal from the parts of the Donbas it still controls. In return, Russia would agree to a ceasefire along the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson and would hand back small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions it currently occupies.
Beyond territory, the Kremlin’s core demands remain unchanged. Putin is insisting that Ukraine adopt a neutral status, commit to never joining NATO, and accept a legally binding pledge from the alliance that it will not expand further east. The proposal also includes limits on the size and capability of the Ukrainian military and a guarantee that no Western troops would be deployed in the country as part of any peacekeeping mission.
Despite this diplomatic movement, the two sides remain profoundly far apart. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has consistently and publicly rejected any deal that involves ceding internationally recognized Ukrainian territory, calling the Donbas a crucial fortress for the nation’s survival. The vast gap between Moscow’s conditions and Kyiv’s unwavering position suggests that a breakthrough remains elusive, even as world leaders re-engage in direct dialogue.
