Putin demands Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk as a condition for ending the war
Pjotr Sauer
At the Alaska summit, Putin demanded Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk as a condition for ending the war, but offered Trump a freeze along the remaining frontline, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks told the Guardian.
Although Luhansk is almost entirely under Russian control, Ukraine still holds key parts of Donetsk, including the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk and heavily fortified positions whose defence has cost tens of thousands of lives.
Putin told Trump that in exchange for Donetsk and Luhansk, he would halt further advances and freeze the frontline in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russian forces occupy significant areas.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently rejected giving up territory, and on Saturday, European allies reaffirmed that Ukraine’s borders must not be altered through force.
Key events
Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
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At the Alaska summit, Putin demanded Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk as a condition for ending the war, but offered Trump a freeze along the remaining frontline, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks told the Guardian. Although Luhansk is almost entirely under Russian control, Ukraine still holds key parts of Donetsk, including the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk and heavily fortified positions whose defence has cost tens of thousands of lives.
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Eight pages of US government planning documents for the summit meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were left in a hotel printer in Anchorage before the meeting on Friday, NPR reports. The documents, which were posted online by NPR, appear to have been produced by Trump administration officials in charge of summit planning and included the precise locations and times for the scheduled meetings, as well the phone numbers of US government employees.
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The Ukrainian military said it had pushed Russian forces back by about 2km (1.2 miles) on part of the Sumy front in northern Ukraine. There was no immediate comment from Russia, which controls a little over 200 sq km in the region, according to Ukraine’s battlefield mapping project DeepState.
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Canadian prime minister Mark Carney welcomed what he said was US openness to providing security guarantees to Ukraine under a peace deal to end Russia’s war against Kyiv. “Robust and credible security guarantees are essential to any just and lasting peace. I welcome the openness of the United States to providing security guarantees as part of Coalition of the Willing’s efforts,” Carney said in a statement.
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Donald Trump hand-delivered a personal letter from first lady Melania Trump to Russian leader Vladimir Putin raising the plight of Ukrainian and Russian children caught in the middle of the ongoing war between the two European countries, it was reported on Saturday. The contents of the letter were unknown – but two Trump administration officials told Reuters that it mentioned the abductions of children resulting from the war that broke out after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
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Following his meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday, Donald Trump told European leaders that he supported a plan to end the Ukraine-Russia war by ceding unconquered land to Russia, the New York Times reported, citing two senior European officials. The officials said Trump will discuss the plan with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday when the Ukrainian president visits the White House, adding that European leaders have been invited to join.
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Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has said that his visit to Alaska was “useful and timely”, the Russian news agency TASS reported on Saturday. Putin also added that his conversation with Trump was “sincere and substantive”, adding that Russia respects the position of the US and also wants to settle the Ukrainian conflict peacefully.
Following Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday, Ukrainian officials are voicing concern over the US president’s apparent shift in tone after Putin demanded full control of Donetsk and Luhansk as a condition for ending the war.
On Truth Social, Trump said he wanted 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”.
Speaking to the Financial Times about Putin’s demands, a senior Ukrainian official said: “This is a stab in the back.”
Another senior Ukrainian official said: “He just wants a quick deal.”
Meanwhile, Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told the outlet that the outcome of the summit was “awful”.
“It looks like Trump has aligned with Putin and they both might be starting to force us to accept a peace treaty, which means in reality capitulation of Ukraine,” he said, adding: “The whole idea of the summit, as we were explained by Trump and Rubio, was to present Putin with a demand for an immediate ceasefire. And if he rejects this proposal there would be severe consequences for him.”
US summit plans left in hotel printer in Anchorage before Trump-Putin meeting – report
Robert Mackey
Eight pages of US government planning documents for the summit meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were left in a hotel printer in Anchorage before the meeting on Friday, NPR reports.
The documents, which were posted online by NPR, appear to have been produced by Trump administration officials in charge of summit planning and included the precise locations and times for the scheduled meetings, as well the phone numbers of US government employees.
The papers included a schedule for the planned events, the menu for the working lunch between the two delegations which was skipped, and details of which officials were supposed to attend each round of talks.
A copy of the menu in formal script, apparently intended for the guests, said that the meal was a “luncheon in honor of his excellency Vladimir Putin”.
Among the revelations are that US officials had planned a two-on-two meeting, in which Trump and Putin were to have been joined by just one aide each. In the US case, that aide was to have been Steve Witkoff, the president’s friend and special envoy to Russia who has no prior diplomatic experience. When the event took place, the meeting was expanded to include Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, in a three-on-three session.
That meeting was planned to last just 40 minutes, but in the end went on for nearly three hours and replaced the working lunch, which was scrapped.
The schedule also shows that the US planners expected a joint news conference after the lunch to last for a full hour. Instead, Putin and Trump delivered short statements for just 12 minutes and took no questions.
A footer at the bottom of the pages said that they were “Produced by the Office of the Chief of Protocol”. Trump’s chief of protocol is Monica Crowley, a former conservative talk radio host and Fox News commentator who describes herself on LinkedIn as a “Broadcast News Personality”.
A photograph provided to news agencies by the Kremlin pool on Friday showed Crowley shaking hands with Putin as the Russian president left the summit.
Here is the full statement by Vladimir Putin following his meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska:
I asked you to get into a meeting to inform you about the outcomes of our delegation’s visit to Alaska, the United States.
I would like to note from the outset that the visit was timely and quite useful.
We discussed our interactions in virtually all their aspects with a focus, of course, on achieving a fair resolution of the Ukraine crisis.
We certainly had an opportunity to discuss the origins and causes of this crisis, which we did. It is the removal of these root causes that must underlie the settlement.
We did not have direct talks at this level for a long time. Let me reiterate: we had a chance to convey our position in a calm and detailed manner.
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.
Now I will give you a detailed overview of the conversation. I am ready to answer your questions if you have any.
The Ukrainian military said it had pushed Russian forces back by about 2km (1.2 miles) on part of the Sumy front in northern Ukraine.
There was no immediate comment from Russia, which controls a little over 200 sq km in the region, according to Ukraine’s battlefield mapping project DeepState.
“Ukrainian soldiers continue active combat actions to destroy the enemy and liberate our settlements,” the Ukrainian general staff wrote on Facebook.
It added that fighting was taking place near the villages of Oleksiivka and Yunakivka, which lie 5km and 7km from the Russian border respectively.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney welcomed what he said was US openness to providing security guarantees to Ukraine under a peace deal to end Russia’s war against Kyiv.
“Robust and credible security guarantees are essential to any just and lasting peace. I welcome the openness of the United States to providing security guarantees as part of Coalition of the Willing’s efforts,” Carney said in a statement.
“The leadership of President Trump and the United States is creating the opportunity to end Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.”
For those who feared the summit on Ukraine might resemble Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Adolf Hitler in 1938, the reality was worse.
The Guardian’s David Smith has this politics sketch from Anchorage:
That was the moment he knew it was true love.
Donald Trump turned to gaze at Vladimir Putin as the Russian president publicly endorsed his view that, had Trump been president instead of Joe Biden, the war in Ukraine would never have happened.
“Today President Trump was saying that if he was president back then, there would be no war, and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so,” Putin said. “I can confirm that.”
Vladimir, you complete me, Trump might have replied. To hell with all those Democrats, democrats, wokesters, fake news reporters and factcheckers. Here is a man who speaks my authoritarian alternative facts language.
The damned doubters had been worried about Friday’s big summit at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a cold war-era airbase under a big sky and picturesque mountains on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska.
They feared that it might resemble Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Adolf Hitler in Munich 1938, or Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin carving up the world for the great powers at the Yalta Conference in 1945.
It was worse than that.
For the full sketch, click here:
Here is the full statement by Volodymyr Zelenskyy following his conversation with Donald Trump after the US president met with Vladmir Putin in Alaska on Friday:
Today, following a conversation with President Trump, we further coordinated positions with European leaders. The positions are clear. A real peace must be achieved, one that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions.
Killings must stop as soon as possible, the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the sky, as well as against our port infrastructure. All Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians must be released, and the children abducted by Russia must be returned. Thousands of our people remain in captivity – they all must be brought home. Pressure on Russia must be maintained while the aggression and occupation continue.
In my conversation with President Trump, I said that sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war. Sanctions are an effective tool. Security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term, with the involvement of both Europe and the U.S. All issues important to Ukraine must be discussed with Ukraine’s participation, and no issue, particularly territorial ones, can be decided without Ukraine.
I thank our partners who are helping. Today, there is an important statement from European leaders that strengthens our position. We continue working together – Europeans, Americans, and everyone in the world who wants peace and stability in international relations.
Edward Helmore
Donald Trump hand-delivered a personal letter from first lady Melania Trump to Russian leader Vladimir Putin raising the plight of Ukrainian and Russian children caught in the middle of the ongoing war between the two European countries, it was reported on Saturday.
The contents of the letter were unknown – but two Trump administration officials told Reuters that it mentioned the abductions of children resulting from the war that broke out after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Putin was indicted by the international criminal court in 2023, and still faces arrest in 125 countries, for his alleged role in the war crime of abducting those children and transferring them from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
Slovenian-born Melania Trump did not attend the peace summit between Trump and Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.
But she has previously said that her ambition as US first lady was to be akin to Eleanor Roosevelt, who was known for her work advocating for children’s rights and welfare during Franklin D Roosevelt’s presidency.
For the full story, click here:
Dan Sabbagh
Ukraine’s president has said he will fly to Washington on Monday to meet Donald Trump following the Alaska summit amid speculation that the US president will ask him to cede territory to end the war.
Next week’s meeting will mark the first return to the White House for Volodymyr Zelenskyy since his infamous row with Trump and the vice-president, JD Vance, in the Oval Office in February.
“President Trump informed [me] about his meeting with the Russian leader and the main points of their discussion,” Zelenskyy wrote, following an hourlong, one-to-one phone call after Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy did not spell out the key points of discussion between Trump and Putin. Later, the president’s chief communications adviser said they “haven’t heard anything” about a possible air ceasefire before a trilateral summit, a proposal posted on social media by a journalist.
Trump told Fox News after the summit that the swapping of territory in Ukraine was discussed with Putin – something Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out.
For the full story, click here:
European leaders have been invited to Monday’s meeting with Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House although it remains to be seen who would attend, Reuters reports, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Following Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, Trump briefed Zelenskyy on his conversation with the Russian president. Trump’s call with Zelenskyy lasted over an hour and a half and European and Nato leaders also joined.
“The impression is he wants a fast deal at any price,” a source familiar with the conversation told Reuters.
The source added that Trump told Zelenskyy that Putin had offered to halt fighting on the frontlines elsewhere as part of a peace deal if Ukraine fully withdrew its troops from eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions – which Zelenskyy said was not possible.
Reuters further reports that Trump and US special envoy Steve Witkoff told Zelenskyy that Putin said there could be no ceasefire before that happened and that Putin could pledge not to launch any new attacks against Ukraine as part of a peace agreement.
Putin demands Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk as a condition for ending the war
Pjotr Sauer
At the Alaska summit, Putin demanded Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk as a condition for ending the war, but offered Trump a freeze along the remaining frontline, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks told the Guardian.
Although Luhansk is almost entirely under Russian control, Ukraine still holds key parts of Donetsk, including the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk and heavily fortified positions whose defence has cost tens of thousands of lives.
Putin told Trump that in exchange for Donetsk and Luhansk, he would halt further advances and freeze the frontline in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russian forces occupy significant areas.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently rejected giving up territory, and on Saturday, European allies reaffirmed that Ukraine’s borders must not be altered through force.
Trump supports Ukrainian land cession as part of peace plan – report
Following his meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday, Donald Trump told European leaders that he supported a plan to end the Ukraine-Russia war by ceding unconquered land to Russia, the New York Times reported, citing two senior European officials.
The officials said Trump will discuss the plan with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday when the Ukrainian president visits the White House, adding that European leaders have been invited to join.
Reports of Trump supporting a potential land cession marks a shift in Trump’s previous demands of an immediate ceasefire.
According to the New York Times, Trump believes a peace deal can be swiftly negotiated, “so long as Mr Zelenskyy agrees to cede the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops”.
Speaking to the outlet, senior officials said that Putin in return offered a ceasefire across the rest of Ukraine at current battle lines and a written promise to not attack Ukraine or any other European country again.
Pjotr Sauer
Russia’s reaction to Donald Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska has been nothing short of jubilant, with Moscow celebrating the fact that the Russian leader met his US counterpart without making concessions and now faces no sanctions despite rejecting Trump’s ceasefire demands.
“The meeting proved that negotiations are possible without preconditions,” wrote former president Dmitry Medvedev on Telegram. He added that the summit showed that talks could continue as Russia wages war in Ukraine.
Trump entered the high-stakes summit warning, “I won’t be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire,” and threatening “severe consequences” if Moscow refused to cooperate.
But after a three-hour meeting with the Russian side that yielded no tangible results, Trump shelved his threats and instead insisted that the meeting was “extremely productive”, even as Putin clung to his maximalist demands for ending the war and announced no concessions on the battlefield, where Russian forces are consolidating key gains in eastern Ukraine.
For the full story, click here:
Putin: Alaska visit was ‘useful and timely’
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has said that his visit to Alaska was “useful and timely”, the Russian news agency TASS reported on Saturday.
Putin also added that his conversation with Trump was “sincere and substantive”, adding that Russia respects the position of the US and also wants to settle the Ukrainian conflict peacefully.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the developments after the Alaska summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Here is a look at where things stand:
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The United States is ready to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Saturday after a summit in Alaska between the US president, Donald Trump, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ended without a ceasefire deal. Merz was speaking to the German public broadcaster ZDF after being briefed together with other European leaders by Trump on his talks with Putin.
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Putin told Trump that he would freeze the frontline in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in exchange for the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the Financial Times reports. The Russian leader made the request during his meeting with Trump in Alaska on Friday, the FT said, citing four people with direct knowledge of the talks.
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European leaders are invited to attend a Monday meeting with Trump and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the White House, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing two senior European officials. The meeting comes after a summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska on Friday, which Washington said resulted in “great progress” but no deal to end the conflict in Ukraine.
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Two people, a 52-year-old man and his 13-year-old son, were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Kursk region, the local governor said on Saturday. In a statement published on Telegram, the Kursk governor, Alexander Khinshtein, said that the two had been killed when their car caught fire as a result of a drone strike.
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The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on X that strong security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe were “essential” in any peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. “The EU is working closely with Zelenskyy and the United States to reach a just and lasting peace. Strong security guarantees that protect Ukrainian and European vital security interests are essential,” von der Leyen posted on Saturday.
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In a statement posted on the social media platform X, Zelenskyy said: “Security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term, with the involvement of both Europe and the US. “All issues important to Ukraine must be discussed with Ukraine’s participation, and no issue, particularly territorial ones, can be decided without Ukraine.”
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The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has released an official statement on Ukraine after the Alaska summit held between Trump and Putin. The statement said: “President Trump’s efforts have brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. His leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended.”
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