give up Donbas, no NATO and no Western troops, sources say

Guy faulconbridge

Moscow (Reuters) -Vladimir Putin demanded that Ukraine to give up the entire Eastern Donbas region, to join NATO, to stay neutral and to give up the ambitions of keeping Western troops out of the country, told three sources familiar to the thought of high -level Kremlin.

The Russian President met with Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-US Summit for more than four years, and according to sources that require anonymity, almost all of its three-hour closed meetings have discussed how a compromise in Ukraine may appear according to resources that wanted to discuss sensitive issues.

Speaking next to Trump, Putin said that the meeting would open the path of peace in Ukraine – but he said that both leaders did not give information about what they discussed.

In the most detailed Russian -centered reports about Putin’s summit, Reuters could summarize the contours of what he wanted to see in a possible peace agreement to end a Kremlin’s killing and injuring hundreds of thousands of people.

In essence, Russian sources said that Putin has compromised the regional demands of June 2024, which required Kiev to quit all Moscow claims as a part of Russia: Donbas – Plus Donesk and Luhansk to the east of Ukraine, which formed Zaporizhhia in the south.

Kyiv rejected these conditions as equivalent to surrendering.

In his new proposal, the Russian President stuck to the request that Ukraine was still controlled by Donbas, which Ukraine was still controlled, according to three sources. In contrast, he added that Moscow would stop the existing facade lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

According to US estimates and open -source data, Russia controls about 88% of Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Sources, Moscow’s Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions, small parts of a possible agreement, he said.

Putin adheres that Ukraine has given up NATO ambitions and that it will not expand further to the east for a legally binding pledge from the US -led military alliance, and that it will not be replaced as a part of the resources for a part of resources for an agreement with the borders of the Ukrainian army and a peacekeeping and peacekeeping force.

Nevertheless, the two sides were separated from Putin’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and three years after he ordered thousands of Russian soldiers to Ukraine in a full -scale invasion following long -term wars in the east of the country among Russian -supported separatists and Ukrainian troops.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not have any immediate comment on the proposals.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly rejected the idea of ​​withdrawing as a part of an internationally recognized Ukrainian territory, and that the industrial Donbas region served as a castle that keeps Russia’s progress in Deeper to Ukraine.

In his comments on Thursday by Kiev, he told reporters, “If we’re just talking about withdrawing from the east, we can’t do it.” “This is the issue of survival of our country, the most powerful defense lines.”

Meanwhile, joining NATO is a strategic target in the country’s constitution and Kyiv’s most reliable security guarantee. Zelenskiy said that deciding on alliance membership was not affiliated with Russia.

White House and NATO did not respond to comments on Russian suggestions.

In Rand, a US -based global policy thinking tank, Samuel Chart, president of Russia and Eurasian policy, said that the necessity of withdrawing Ukraine from Donbas remained both politically and strategically not marks.

“The opening of ‘peace’ in terms of unacceptable terms for the other party may be more performance than a real will for Trump.” “The only way to test this proposal is to start a serious process at the level of work to reveal these details.”

Trump: Putin wants to see that it is over

According to the US estimates and open -source maps, the Russian forces are controlling one -fifth of Ukraine, the size of the American Ohio province.

The three sources close to the Kremlin said that the summit in Alaska’s Anchorage, Alaska, has started the best chance for peace since the war began, because there were special discussions about Russia’s conditions and Putin showed the desire to give ground.

“Putin is ready for peace – for compromise. This is the message transferred to Trump.” He said.

Sources said whether Moscow would be ready to quit Donbas’ ruins of Ukraine, and the war would continue if not. He also added that the United States will provide any recognition to the Ukrainian region held by Russia.

A fourth source said that although economic issues for Putin are secondary, he understood Russia’s economic fragility and the scale of the effort to go to Ukraine further.

Trump said that the war wanted to end the “blood bath” and to be remembered as “peaceful president”. On Monday, he started to hold a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders, and then began to follow a triple summit with the US President.

“I believe you want to see Vladimir Putin ending,” he said, next to Zelenskiy in the oval office. He said. “I’m sure we’il be solved.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Putin is ready to meet Zelenskiy, but all the problems should be worked before and a question about Zelenskiy’s authority to sign a peace agreement.

Putin has repeatedly made doubts about Zelenskiy’s legitimacy due to the end of his term of office in May 2024, but the war means that a new presidential election has not yet been made. Kyiv said Zelenskiy continued to be a legitimate president.

British, France and Germany leaders, Putin, said they were skeptical that they want to end the war.

Security guarantees for Ukraine

According to two Russian sources, Trump’s special ambassador Steve Witkoff was influential in the lasting and last peace driving.

Witkoff met Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov in Kremlin on 6 August. At the meeting, Putin, according to two Russian sources, clearly stated that he was ready to compromise Witkoff and to reveal the contours he could accept for peace.

If Russia and Ukraine can reach an agreement, one of the sources includes various options for an official agreement-BM Security Council, including a possible three-way Russia-Ukraine-US agreement.

Another option is to return to the unsuccessful 2022 Istanbul agreements from the five permanent members of Russia and Ukraine in exchange for security guarantees in exchange for security guarantees: resources have been added.

“There are two options: if there is no war or peace and peace, then there is more war.” He said.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Pruvin Char)