Vladimir Putin made demands to take control of key regions of Ukraine during his talks with Donald Trump, it has been widely reported, as a condition for ending the war.
During their summit in Alaska, the Russian leader is said to have told the US president he wants the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions – and would give up other Ukrainian territories held by his troops in exchange.
The plans were reported by several news outlets, citing sources close to the matter, as Mr Trump scheduled a further meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington DC for Monday. He has said this could potentially pave the way for a three-way meeting with Mr Putin.
Mr Trump reportedly backs the plans, according to some outlets – but Mr Zelenskyy has previously ruled out formally handing any territory to Moscow. Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014.
US-Russia talks on Ukraine – latest updates
Details of the plans emerged after little was revealed during the high-profile summit between the US and Russian leaders on Friday.
Despite threats by the US president beforehand, of sanctions for Russia should there be no agreement on a ceasefire, a short news briefing after the talks ended with no mention of a suspension of fighting, no announced agreement on how to end the war, and little clarity about the next steps.
On Saturday, Mr Trump appeared to change his stance on what he hopes to achieve in Ukraine, indicating he wants a permanent peace settlement rather than a ceasefire.
“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” he said in a post on his social network site, Truth Social.
Trump: ‘Russia is a big power – they’re not’
In an interview with Fox News following the summit, Mr Trump signalled he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had “largely agreed”. He said Ukraine has to made a deal, as “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not”.
Monday’s meeting at the White House will be the Ukrainian president’s second this year. His last descended into a fiery spat with Mr Trump and his vice president JD Vance, which saw him leave early.
After the fresh meeting was announced, Mr Zelenskyy in a post on X that he was grateful for the invitation.
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“It is important that everyone agrees there needs to be a conversation at the level of leaders to clarify all the details and determine which steps are necessary and will work,” he said.
However, he said Russia had rebuffed “numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing”, which “complicates the situation”.
Mr Zelenskyy continued: “If they lack the will to carry out a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort to get Russia to have the will to implement far greater – peaceful coexistence with its neighbours for decades.
“But together we are working for peace and security. Stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war.”
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Putin releases statement on summit
In a statement on the summit, Mr Putin described the talks as “timely and quite useful” – but said the “removal” of what he calls the “root causes” of the crisis “must underlie the settlement”.
He continued: “We definitely respect the US administration’s position which wants the hostilities to stop as soon as possible. So do we, and we would like to move forward with settling all issues by peaceful means.
“The conversation was very frank and substantive, which, in my view, moves us closer towards making necessary decisions.”
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European leaders who make up the “coalition of the willing” are set to hold a conference call today ahead of the crunch talks between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will host the video conference.
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Mapping the land Ukraine could be told to give up
In a statement on Saturday,Sir Keir said Mr Trump’s efforts had “brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine” and that his leadership “in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended”.
He said he supported the next phase of talks, but added: “In the meantime, until (Putin) stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military has reported an advance of up to 2km on the Sumy front in the country’s northeast.
“Zones of continuous enemy fire damage are being maintained,” the Ukrainian General Staff said on Telegram. “Ukrainian troops are repelling Russian forces”.
In the early hours of Sunday, a regional governor in Russia said a railway employee had been injured and a power line damaged by a Ukrainian drone attack.
The incident happened in the Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.
