Trump conveys Putin's Donetsk demand for frozen front lines, Zelensky turns it down: Report

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has turned down a reported proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin that would see Ukraine surrender full control of Donetsk in exchange for freezing front-line positions, Reuters reported. The proposal was conveyed to Zelensky during a private briefing with US President Donald Trump.

Speaking after his meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday, Trump urged Ukraine to accept a peace agreement with Russia, remarking, “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not.” The summit -- the first US-Russia meeting since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 -- lasted three hours.

According to Reuters, Trump told Zelensky that Putin’s offer included halting Russian advances if Ukraine agreed to withdraw from Donetsk, a region under partial Russian control since 2014. Russia currently occupies roughly 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory, including much of Donetsk province.

Trump also said he and Putin had agreed that any peace deal should proceed without a prior ceasefire -- a condition Ukraine and its European allies have long demanded, and one that until now had US backing.

“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.

Zelensky has consistently maintained that Ukraine cannot cede territory without constitutional changes and stressed that cities such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in Donetsk remain strategic strongholds preventing further Russian advances. He has also underscored the need for long-term security guarantees to prevent future aggression.

He noted that he and Trump discussed “positive signals from the American side” regarding US involvement and reiterated that Ukraine was seeking a lasting peace, not merely “another pause” before renewed Russian hostilities.

According to a report in The New York Times, Zelensky is scheduled to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, with several European leaders invited to participate in the talks. European officials have expressed cautious support for the discussions while reaffirming their backing for Kyiv. They also signalled plans to tighten sanctions on Moscow, stressing that any peace initiative must not come at the cost of Ukrainian sovereignty.