ANCHORAGE, Alaska (BN24) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine surrender all remaining territory in the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO and maintain permanent neutrality while keeping Western troops out of the country, according to three sources familiar with high-level Kremlin thinking.
Putin outlined these terms during his first meeting with President Donald Trump in more than four years, a three-hour closed-door summit in Alaska on Friday that focused almost entirely on potential compromise solutions for ending the war in Ukraine, the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.
Speaking alongside Trump after the meeting, Putin said the summit would hopefully open pathways to peace in Ukraine, though neither leader provided specific details about their discussions or any agreements reached.
The Russian proposal represents Putin’s most detailed peace offer since the war began, according to sources who described the Kremlin’s position. The terms would require Ukraine to completely withdraw from parts of the Donbas region it still controls, while Moscow would halt advances along current front lines in the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces.
Russia currently controls approximately 88 percent of the Donbas and 73 percent of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, according to U.S. intelligence estimates and open-source data analysis.
Putin’s latest proposal marks a modification from his June 2024 territorial demands, which required Ukraine to cede the entirety of four provinces Moscow claims as part of Russia. Kyiv rejected those earlier terms as tantamount to unconditional surrender.
Under the new framework, Moscow would be willing to return small portions of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions currently under Russian control, the sources said.
Putin maintains his previous demands that Ukraine formally abandon NATO membership aspirations and provide legally binding pledges that the U.S.-led military alliance will not expand further eastward. The proposal also calls for limitations on Ukrainian military forces and guarantees that no Western peacekeeping troops would be deployed on Ukrainian soil.
The two sides remain fundamentally divided more than three years after Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and prolonged fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces in eastern regions.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reported proposals.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected the concept of withdrawing from internationally recognized Ukrainian territory as part of any peace agreement. The Ukrainian leader has described the industrial Donbas region as a critical fortress preventing Russian advances deeper into Ukrainian territory.
“If we’re talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that,” Zelenskyy told reporters in comments released Thursday by Kyiv. “It is a matter of our country’s survival, involving the strongest defensive lines.”
NATO membership remains a strategic objective enshrined in Ukraine’s constitution and represents what Kyiv considers its most reliable long-term security guarantee. Zelenskyy has maintained that Russia has no authority to determine alliance membership decisions.
The White House and NATO headquarters did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reported Russian proposals.
Samuel Charap, chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND Corporation, a U.S.-based policy research organization, said any requirement for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas remained politically and strategically unacceptable to Kyiv.
“Openness to ‘peace’ on terms categorically unacceptable to the other side could be more of a performance for Trump than a sign of true willingness to compromise,” Charap said. “The only way to test that proposition is to begin a serious process at the working level to hash out those details.”
Russian forces currently occupy approximately one-fifth of Ukraine, an area roughly equivalent to the size of Ohio, according to U.S. assessments and open-source mapping data.
The three Kremlin sources described the Anchorage summit as creating the best opportunity for peace since the war’s inception because it featured specific discussions about Russian terms and demonstrated Putin’s willingness to make territorial concessions.
“Putin is ready for peace, for compromise. That is the message that was conveyed to Trump,” one source said.
The sources cautioned that Moscow remains uncertain whether Ukraine would accept surrendering remaining Donbas territory, warning that the war would continue if no agreement is reached. They also expressed uncertainty about whether the United States would provide any recognition of Russian-controlled Ukrainian territories.
A fourth source indicated that while economic considerations are secondary for Putin, the Russian leader understands his country’s economic vulnerabilities and the massive resources required for further territorial expansion into Ukraine.
Trump has stated his intention to end what he calls the “bloodbath” of the war and establish his legacy as a “peacemaker president.” On Monday, Trump announced he had begun arranging a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit including the U.S. president.
“I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy. “I feel confident we are going to get it solved.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that Putin was prepared to meet with Zelenskyy but insisted all issues must be resolved in advance, while questioning Zelenskyy’s authority to sign any peace agreement.
Putin has repeatedly challenged Zelenskyy’s legitimacy, noting that the Ukrainian president’s term was scheduled to expire in May 2024 but no new presidential election has been conducted due to wartime conditions. Kyiv maintains that Zelenskyy remains the legitimate president under Ukrainian law.
Leaders of Britain, France and Germany have expressed skepticism about Putin’s genuine desire to end the conflict through negotiated settlement.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff played an instrumental role in facilitating the summit and current peace initiative, according to two Russian sources. Witkoff met with Putin and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov on August 6, during which Putin clearly conveyed his readiness to compromise and outlined acceptable peace terms.
If Russia and Ukraine reach an agreement, several formal frameworks could structure a final deal, including a possible three-way Russia-Ukraine-U.S. accord recognized by the U.N. Security Council, one source said.
Another option involves reviving the failed 2022 Istanbul agreements, where Russia and Ukraine discussed Ukrainian permanent neutrality in exchange for security guarantees from the five permanent U.N. Security Council members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
“There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war,” one source said.
