Putin wants no NATO, no Western troops & Ukraine to give up Donbas in return for ending invasion

Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling on Ukraine to give up all of the eastern Donbas region, give up its NATO ambitions, stay "neutral", and keep Western troops out of the country, according to an exclusive Reuters report.

The exclusive cited three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking.

Putin met U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday (Aug. 15), the first Russia-U.S. summit in more than four years.

The summit yielded no agreement to end, or even pause, the war in Ukraine.

However, Trump hinted at discussions with Putin regarding potential land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine.

In its exclusive, Reuters was able to give an outline of what the Kremlin would like to see in a possible peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

1. Territorial

According to the source cited by Reuters, Putin has compromised on territorial demands he laid out in June 2024.

In a speech on Jun. 14 2024, Putin demanded full withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire territory of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Russia had previously claimed those four regions as part of its own territory in 2022.

In the new proposal, Putin stuck to his earlier demand that Ukraine make a complete withdrawal from the parts of Donbas it still controls.

However, Moscow will stop at the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

2. Stop NATO ambitions

Putin is also sticking to his demands that Ukraine give up its aspirations to join NATO and for a binding guarantee from the alliance that it will halt its "expansion eastwards".

Putin also demands restrictions on Ukraine's army and assurances that Western troops will not be stationed in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force.

While Ukraine's foreign ministry has yet to comment on the proposals, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously rejected any deal that involves surrendering internationally recognised Ukrainian territory.

Instead, he emphasised that the Donbas region is a critical stronghold against deeper Russian advances.

Trump: "I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended"

Russian forces currently control 20 per cent of Ukraine's land.

Citing the three sources familiar with the Kremlin, Reuters reported that the recent Russia-U.S. summit was the most promising step towards peace since the war began.

There were detailed discussions about what peace deal Russia would accept, and Putin appeared ready to make certain concessions as compared to his earlier demands.

One of the people stated that the message that was conveyed to Trump indicated that Putin "is ready for peace - for compromise."

Following the summit, Trump said on Aug. 18 that he wanted to end the "bloodbath" in Ukraine and announced plans to arrange a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, with a trilateral summit with the U.S. to follow after.

Top photos via Володимир Зеленський/Facebook, Kremlin