Putin Proposes Territorial Concessions and Security Guarantees in Ukraine Peace Talks

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has outlined new conditions for peace in Ukraine, demanding that Kyiv fully withdraw from eastern Donbas territories, abandon ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral, and prevent Western troops from deploying on Ukrainian soil, according to three sources familiar with Kremlin deliberations.

Putin and former U.S. President Donald Trump met in Alaska for nearly three hours in the first high-level Russia-U.S. summit since 2018. The leaders primarily focused on negotiating terms that could potentially end the protracted conflict in Ukraine, which has resulted in extensive casualties and devastation.

Despite neither leader publicly disclosing specifics after the meeting, insider reports reveal that Putin presented a recalibrated proposal compared to his earlier June 2024 demands. Previously insisting that Ukraine cede all four provinces claimed by Moscow — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia — the new offer reduces territorial claims to the entirety of the Donbas region while agreeing to maintain current frontlines in southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Currently, Russian forces control approximately 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia combined, according to U.S. and open-source assessments. Moscow is also prepared to relinquish control over smaller areas in Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions in a potential agreement.

Integral to the proposal are Moscow's demands that Ukraine forsake its NATO membership goal, secured by the country’s constitution, and secure binding assurances from NATO that the alliance will not further expand eastward. The plan additionally calls for restrictions on Ukraine’s military capabilities and prohibits the deployment of Western troops on Ukrainian soil, even as part of a peacekeeping mission.

Though presenting these overtures as steps toward compromise, Kremlin sources acknowledge uncertainty about Kyiv’s willingness to surrender any part of the Donbas region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has categorically rejected territorial concessions, emphasizing the Donbas as a vital defensive stronghold essential to the nation’s survival.

"Withdrawing from the east is not an option," Zelenskiy stated, underscoring the region's strategic importance. He also reaffirmed Ukraine’s sovereign right to seek NATO membership, asserting it is not Moscow’s prerogative to determine alliance admissions.

U.S. and NATO officials have yet to issue formal responses to Russia’s latest peace proposal. Analysts, including RAND Corporation expert Samuel Charap, warn that Kyiv is unlikely to accept demands requiring territorial withdrawal, and suggest that Russia’s overtures may serve more as political theater than sincere negotiation.

Russian forces currently occupy nearly a fifth of Ukraine, an area roughly equivalent to the size of Ohio. Kremlin insiders describe the Anchorage summit as the most promising opportunity for peace since the conflict’s escalation in 2022, highlighting Putin’s ostensible openness to concessions.

"Putin is prepared for peace and compromise," one source said, adding that continuation of the war depends heavily on Ukraine’s stance towards the Donbas. The feasibility of any U.S. recognition of Russian-held Ukrainian territory remains uncertain.

Former President Trump, who has expressed a desire to end the conflict, has indicated efforts to arrange direct talks between Putin and Zelenskiy followed by a trilateral summit involving the U.S. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, played a key role in preparing for the Anchorage discussions, reportedly receiving a clear message from Putin about his willingness to negotiate.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed Putin’s readiness to meet with Zelenskiy but stressed that preliminary issues must be resolved and questioned the Ukrainian leader’s authority to sign a peace treaty amid election delays caused by the war.

Western leaders remain skeptical about Putin’s commitment to peace. Meanwhile, the prospect of a formal agreement could take shape as a trilateral pact between Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S., potentially endorsed by the U.N. Security Council or revive elements of the aborted 2022 Istanbul accords, which envisioned Ukraine’s neutrality in exchange for security guarantees from the council’s permanent members.

"There are two paths: peace or continued war," a Kremlin-associated source concluded.