Alaska talks twist: Putin offers frontline freeze if Ukraine gives up Donetsk; Trump urges Zelenskyy to deal

European leaders, already wary after Trump floated “land swaps” ahead of the summit, were alarmed by the Alaska outcome.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the eastern Donetsk region as a condition to end the war, Financial Times reported, citing four people with direct knowledge of his meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday.

In exchange, Putin offered to freeze the rest of the frontline,  including in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and not launch fresh offensives, three people familiar with the talks told the newspaper.

The move would give Moscow full control of a region it has partially occupied for more than a decade and where Russian forces are currently advancing at their fastest pace since last November.

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Trump’s message: no ceasefire, go straight to a deal

After the summit, Trump relayed Putin’s demand to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in a Saturday call, according to FT.

Instead of pushing Moscow for a ceasefire, Trump advised European capitals to drop that effort altogether. He argued that only a direct peace agreement could end the conflict.

“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after his call with leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

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Zelenskyy resists, but open to talks in Washington

According to people familiar with Zelenskyy’s thinking, the Ukrainian president is unwilling to cede Donetsk. However, he is open to discussing territorial issues with Trump when they meet in Washington on Monday, FT reported.

Those sources also said Zelenskyy would consider a trilateral meeting with both Trump and Putin, though the Kremlin insisted no such arrangement was discussed in Anchorage.

Full breakdown | Trump–Putin Alaska talks: Everything they said, and didn’t say, on Ukraine

European alarm: déjà vu from Minsk

European leaders, already wary after Trump floated “land swaps” ahead of the summit, were alarmed by the Alaska outcome.

Macron warned Trump during their call that Putin “could not be trusted,” reminding him of the failed Minsk ceasefire deals from a decade ago.

“Putin plays a long game and will not respect promises,” a European diplomat briefed on the call told FT. “Trump is in a rush to make a deal but Putin is much less so.”

Negotiating peace without a ceasefire “perhaps seems a laudable goal but [is] very difficult and risky to do,” the diplomat added.

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Putin’s core demands remain unchanged

Despite offering to freeze parts of the frontline, Putin has not abandoned his “root causes” agenda, which includes rolling back NATO expansion and reshaping Ukraine’s sovereignty.

A former senior Kremlin official told FT that Putin is prepared to compromise on territory if those broader demands are addressed.

Breaking isolation

The three-hour meeting in Anchorage gave Putin, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes over Ukraine, a chance to break out of international isolation. He was greeted on a red carpet by Trump and seen joking with him before talks began.

The so-called Coalition of the Willing, which includes France, the UK, Germany, Canada, and Japan, is expected to meet on Sunday to discuss Ukraine’s security guarantees after any peace settlement, according to three people familiar with the matter.