Vladimir Putin keen to finish the Ukraine conflict, however has one situation: Report

Printed on: Aug 16, 2025 08:35 pm IST
Donald Trump communicated Vladimir Putin’s demand to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in a name on Saturday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin put ahead a requirement that Ukraine must withdraw from the japanese Donetsk area as a situation for ending Moscow’s conflict with Kyiv in the course of the Alaska Summit with US President Donald Trump on Friday.
Nevertheless, Putin additionally informed Trump that if his core calls for have been met, he could be open to freezing the remainder of the frontline, the Monetary Instances reported.
Based on the report, Trump referred to as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders on Saturday to speak Putin’s demand. He additionally urged Ukraine and Europe to drop efforts to safe a ceasefire from Moscow.
Russia has been in partial management of the Donetsk area for greater than a decade. If Putin’s demand is met, he’ll get management of the territory the place his forces have made probably the most good points within the conflict since November final yr.
What’s Vladimir Putin keen to let go in trade for full management over Donetsk?
Based on the FT report, Vladimir Putin has mentioned that in trade for the Donetsk area, he would freeze the frontline within the southern areas of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the place his forces occupy massive swaths of land, and never launch new assaults to take extra territory.
Putin made it clear to Donald Trump that his core demand of addressing ‘the foundation causes’ of the battle nonetheless stands. He needs NATO’s eastward growth to finish, which means Ukraine wouldn’t be allowed to affix the alliance.
However he’s reportedly ready to compromise on different points, together with territory, if he’s happy that the “root causes” are addressed.
The Russian management over Donetsk
Russian forces management about 70 p.c of the Donetsk area. Ukraine nonetheless has management over the area’s westernmost chain of cities, that are mentioned to be vital to Kyiv’s navy operation and defences alongside the japanese entrance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned that he wouldn’t swap territory with Russia and wouldn’t enable a second partition of the nation. He’s assembly Trump on Monday in Washington, the place this matter will definitely come up.
