Among the conditions presented by Vladimir Putin for the end of the War in Ukraine at his top with Donald Trump in Alaska, notably is the total surrender of the Donetsk and Louhansk regions in Moscow against a freezing of certain front lines, sources said to discussions.
The highly anticipated summit organized on Friday August 15 in Alaska did not lead to any agreement to end or suspend the war waged by Russia in Ukraine.
However, Donald Trump, who invited Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington on Monday, said that Ukraine had to accept an agreement to end war because Russia is “very great power, and not them”.
In an interview with Fox News After the summit, Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin and had discussed “land transfers” and security guarantees for Ukraine, and that they had “heard”.
The position of the American president changed after the discussions to align with that of Vladimir Putin, who claims to go directly to a peace agreement and not to a cease-fire, as Ukraine and his European allies had asked for it.
Europeans, excluded like Ukraine on Friday discussions, must also meet on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Paris hour with the Ukrainian leader, as part of the “volunteer coalition”.
The meeting will be co -chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
According to the conditions proposed by Russia, Kyiv should completely withdraw from the eastern regions of Donetsk and Louhansk in exchange for a Russian commitment to freeze the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporijia, indicated the sources, which required anonymity due to the sensitivity of the file.
Russia would also be ready to restore relatively small plots of Ukrainian land occupied in the north of the Soumy region and in the northeast of the Kharkiv region, the sources said.
The two sources said that their knowledge of Russian proposals was mainly based on discussions between European, American and Ukrainian leaders, and noted that it was not complete.
At first glance, Ukrainian leaders will find it very difficult to accept some of the requirements of the Kremlin.
It was not possible to determine immediately if the proposals of Vladimir Putin constituted an opening intended to serve as a starting point for negotiations or if it was rather a final offer which was not subject to discussion.
Rejection of any surrender
Ukraine has already rejected any surrender of Ukrainian lands as in the Donetsk region, where its troops are entrenched and which, according to Kyiv, is a crucial defensive zone to prevent Russian attacks from penetrating more deeply on its territory.
Russia controls territory pockets in the Soumy and Kharkiv regions which total approximately 440 km2according to the Ukrainian site Deep State who geolocates the images of war and is authoritative in the matter.
Ukraine controls approximately 6,600 km2 of the Donbass, which includes the Donetsk and Louhansk regions. Although this was not specified during the report of the Americans of discussions in Alaska, the sources said that Vladimir Putin was also looking for – at least – to obtain formal recognition of Russian sovereignty on Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
It was not possible to know immediately if it meant recognition by the American government or, for example, by all Western powers and Ukraine.
Kyiv and his European allies reject any formal recognition of Moscow’s domination over the peninsula.
Vladimir Putin would also expect the lifting of at least part of all of the sanctions imposed on Russia. The sources could not say if it applied to American and European sanctions.
Friday, Donald Trump said that he did not need to consider retaliatory duties to countries such as China for the purchase of Russian oil – which is the subject of a series of Western sanctions – but that he may have to do it “in two or three weeks”.
Ukraine could not join the NATO military alliance either, although Vladimir Putin seems open to what Ukraine receives security guarantees, sources said.
However, details on these security guarantees are not known. European leaders said Donald Trump had mentioned security guarantees for Ukraine during their conversation on Saturday and that he had also discussed the idea of a “article 5” guarantee outside the NATO military alliance.
Under this article, NATO considers any attack launched against one of its 32 members as an attack on all. Membership of the Atlantic Alliance is a strategic objective for Kyiv, listed in the constitution of the country.
Russia would also require official status for the Russian language in certain parts of Ukraine or throughout the country, as well as the law of the Russian Orthodox Church to operate freely, sources said.
The Ukrainian security agency accuses the church linked to Moscow of contributing to the war by spreading pro-Russian propaganda and housing spies, which the church which claims to have cut the canonical ties with Moscow.
Ukraine has adopted a law prohibiting religious organizations linked to Russia, but has not yet started to apply this prohibition.
