Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a phone call last week with U.S. President Donald Trump, demanded that Kyiv hand over full control of Donetsk — a strategically important region in eastern Ukraine — as a condition for ending the war, according to two senior officials familiar with the conversation, The Washington Post reports.
Putin has tried and failed to seize the territory for 11 years, repeatedly pushed back by Ukrainian forces who are deeply entrenched in an area they see as a major barrier against a rapid Russian advance westward toward their capital.
Putin’s focus on Donetsk suggests that he is not backing down from past demands that have kept the conflict at a stalemate, despite Trump’s optimism about brokering a deal.
Russia or Russian-backed separatists have claimed parts of the region since 2014, but they have never been able to capture it entirely.
Trump has not publicly commented on Putin’s demand for all of Donetsk, which has not been previously reported.
He also did not endorse the Russian demand in his public statement on Friday following a West Wing meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which was considered highly significant.
Trump plans to meet with Putin in Hungary in the coming weeks to continue discussions on ways to end the war.
“It’s time to stop the killing and make a DEAL! Enough blood has been spilled. They should stop where they are. Let both sides claim victory — let history decide,” Trump said after meeting with Zelensky.
In the phone call between Trump and Putin, the Russian leader suggested he would be willing to relinquish parts of two other Ukrainian regions he has partially occupied — Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — in exchange for full control of Donetsk, the officials said.
This represents a slightly narrower territorial claim than the one he made in August at a summit in Anchorage.
Some White House officials portrayed this as progress, according to one of the two senior officials briefed on the call.
Meanwhile, front lines between Russian and Ukrainian forces have largely remained static over the past year of the conflict, with neither side gaining significant ground.
