Leave Donbas, forget Nato ambitions: Putin's new demand to Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to quit Donbas, drop Nato plans and bar Western troops; in June 2024, he demanded Kyiv give up four regions, terms Ukraine called surrender

Russian President Vladimir Putin has put forward a new set of demands for peace in Ukraine, according to news agency Reuters. President Putin wants Kyiv to withdraw from the entire eastern Donbas region, renounce its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) ambitions, remain neutral, and agree to keep Western troops out of Ukraine.

 

Putin’s new offer marks a partial shift from his earlier stance in June 2024, when he demanded Kyiv hand over all four provinces claimed by Russia: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine had rejected those terms, calling them a surrender. Now, Moscow insists only on Ukraine’s withdrawal from Donetsk and Luhansk, which form the Donbas region. In return, Russia would halt its advance in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, where fighting continues, the news report said.

 

 

Russia currently controls about 88 per cent of the Donbas and around 73 per cent of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to US estimates. The Kremlin has also indicated it may return small portions of Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk that are under its control.

 

Putin and US President Donald Trump met in Alaska last week for the first Russia-US summit in more than four years. Their three-hour meeting focused almost entirely on possible compromises to end the ongoing war, Reuters reported. After the talks, Putin said he hoped the meeting would “open up the road to peace in Ukraine”, though neither leader gave details of what was discussed.   

   

Nato membership remains a red line for Moscow

 

Putin is still demanding that Ukraine abandon its Nato membership goal. He also wants a binding pledge that the US-led alliance will not expand further east. Other conditions include limits on the Ukrainian army and an agreement that no Western troops will be deployed in Ukraine, even as peacekeepers.

 

The war began in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion after many years of conflict in eastern Ukraine following the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

 

Kyiv refuses to cede land or abandon Nato goal

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strongly rejected Moscow’s latest proposal. He said giving up internationally recognised Ukrainian territory is not an option. "If we're talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that," Zelenskyy told reporters. "It is a matter of our country's survival, involving the strongest defensive lines."

 

Ukraine’s constitution enshrines Nato membership as a strategic goal, which Kyiv considers its best security guarantee. “It is not up to Russia to decide on the alliance's membership,” Zelenskyy said.   

 

Trump positions himself as peacemaker

 

Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to end what he calls the “bloodbath” in Ukraine and present himself as a “peacemaker president". He told reporters he was arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, possibly followed by a trilateral summit with US participation.

 

"I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it end," Trump said at the White House alongside Zelenskyy. "I feel confident we are going to get it solved."

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed Putin’s readiness to meet Zelenskyy but questioned whether the Ukrainian leader had the authority to sign a peace deal, given his expired term and the suspension of elections during wartime. Kyiv insists Zelenskyy remains the legitimate president.

 

Security guarantees and next steps

 

Reuters reported Russian sources as saying that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff played a key role in preparing the Alaska summit. Putin told him earlier in August that he was willing to compromise, outlining the framework of a potential deal.

 

Possible settlement options include a three-way Russia-Ukraine-US agreement recognised by the UN Security Council, or a revival of the failed 2022 Istanbul talks, which had discussed Ukraine’s neutrality in return for international security guarantees, Reuters reported.

 

(With agency inputs)